The Joy of Gospel Resilience

Anyone older than 40, remembers the Timex watch commercials from last century. In most, especially the early ones, timex watches were exposed to extreme, wet conditions and shown to be still ticking afterward. The toughness of their watches was even captured in the company slogan, "Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin." Timex watches were made to be resilient, to withstand the tests of water exposure and extraordinary jarring motions. The Gospel is also resilient. For almost 2000 years it has withstood the test of time and great opposition. In Philippians 1:12-18, we find the resilience of the Gospel on display and Paul uses a teachable moment in the lives of the Philippians and points to the fact that opposition to both the message and the minister of the gospel has only furthered the mission.