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The Pursuit of Happiness Daily Devotional -20

by David Joynt on January 22, 2021


Philippians 2:17 | 17 But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

Sacrifices are offered and disappear. A lamb is burned, a wine or grain offering is given and then it is gone. Paul pictures his investment of love and friendship and prayer and time with the Philippian friends, as like an offering. Our lives are brief and then they end. 

But daringly, Paul believes that when we encourage faith in others it will bring a deep and wonderful joy. We will know we have not worked and lived in vain.

When we learn to be joyful in helping others grow and persevere, we discover a satisfaction that exceeds any excitement we feel at our own success.  

Paul rejoiced in a Roman jail. Have you ever found reasons for joy in hard times?

Who are you sacrificing for?

Tags: joy, paul, sacrificing

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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