Wednesday's "What's God been teaching me?" #4
Philippians 3:7-8, 12
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
In last week's blog, I described a little of what God was teaching me about spiritual intimacy with Him. This past week God has been furthering that understanding and training me to continually pursue a more intimate relationship with Him. In a book I was reading, I just happened to come across a whole chapter about spiritual intimacy with God. What timing!!! One thing that it said really struck me hard. It was the example of Paul that the book described.
The verses above describe Paul's attitude toward knowing Christ and his relatinship with Christ. I had read these verses before but I understood something very new this time. Paul outrightly says, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Reading this again struck a completely different chord in me than it had before. I had always thought that this was an amazing statement, because it meant that God should be our first and foremost focus above all things. But for the first time, the fullness of this statement hit me. To follow Paul's example, I must consider everything a loss compared to knowing Christ. I must be willing to lose everything that would hinder me in having a deeper relationship with Him. I had to ask myself if there were things in my life that could hinder my continuing growth in intimacy with God.
There are so many ways that things can interfere with our relationship with Christ. Where we spend our time and what we devote our thoughts to is indication of where our focus is each day. To be experiencing an intimate relationship with Christ, our primary focus must be Him. It is possible to do many things for God, but it is equally possible for many things to distract us from God. I found myself with one such a thing that God revealed to me as something that could hinder and distract me in my relationship with Christ if I didn't surrender it to Him.
Although, at first it seemed like surrendering it wouldn't be the best idea. . .It was. I found my ability to focus on God renewed and my walk with God throughout my day was stronger when I placed it in His hands. I was able to have the intimacy with God that I wanted, by surrendering every area of my life to Him. In fact that's really the attitude that Paul is trying to model for us. He's telling us that he lost everything for the sake of knowing Christ. He's basically saying that he's willing to surrender everything if he can go deeper in His relationship with God.
Think about the blessings in your life. Sometimes I think we as Christians get distracted by the blessings and forget about the One who gave them to us. Look at Abraham and his son Isaac. Abraham finally gets the son he's been longing for and God asks him to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham had to choose which was more important to him, the blessing, or the One who gave him the blessing. Ask yourself, "Would I be willing to give up any and all blessings in my life if it meant I could know God more intimately?" It's a difficult question. But, just as God gave us the blessings, He can take them away if we aren't willing to give them up. Even the gifts God gives should be considered a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of Jesus Christ.
My favorite part of these verses however, is verse 12. Paul says, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." I'd always thought this verse referred to pressing on to discover the purpose God set for us, or to do the work God has chosen us for. This too hit me pretty hard when I realized the context of the verse. Paul is talking about a relationship with Christ in verses 7-8. Sure Christ has taken hold of us for His purpose, His work, His plans, and because He loves us. But then I realized that Christ has taken hold of me to have a deep and wonderfully intimate relationship with Him. Paul is saying that he presses on to take hold of that wonderfully intimate relationship with God, that God took hold of him to have. He goes on to say that he has not fully taken hold of it yet, which goes to show that now matter how deeply and intimately we come to know the Father, we can always go deeper in our relationship with Him. There is no limit to how intimately we can know God because he is infinite in everything.
Are we willing to give up everything that would prevent us from be intimate with Him? Are we willing to lay aside anything that hinders us in our relationship with Christ? Are we willing to press on to take hold of the wonderfully intimate relationship that God desires with us? To do so, we need to surrender all to Him everyday as we pursue this friendship with Him, for which He gave His one and only Son - Jesus Christ.
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
In last week's blog, I described a little of what God was teaching me about spiritual intimacy with Him. This past week God has been furthering that understanding and training me to continually pursue a more intimate relationship with Him. In a book I was reading, I just happened to come across a whole chapter about spiritual intimacy with God. What timing!!! One thing that it said really struck me hard. It was the example of Paul that the book described.
The verses above describe Paul's attitude toward knowing Christ and his relatinship with Christ. I had read these verses before but I understood something very new this time. Paul outrightly says, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Reading this again struck a completely different chord in me than it had before. I had always thought that this was an amazing statement, because it meant that God should be our first and foremost focus above all things. But for the first time, the fullness of this statement hit me. To follow Paul's example, I must consider everything a loss compared to knowing Christ. I must be willing to lose everything that would hinder me in having a deeper relationship with Him. I had to ask myself if there were things in my life that could hinder my continuing growth in intimacy with God.
There are so many ways that things can interfere with our relationship with Christ. Where we spend our time and what we devote our thoughts to is indication of where our focus is each day. To be experiencing an intimate relationship with Christ, our primary focus must be Him. It is possible to do many things for God, but it is equally possible for many things to distract us from God. I found myself with one such a thing that God revealed to me as something that could hinder and distract me in my relationship with Christ if I didn't surrender it to Him.
Although, at first it seemed like surrendering it wouldn't be the best idea. . .It was. I found my ability to focus on God renewed and my walk with God throughout my day was stronger when I placed it in His hands. I was able to have the intimacy with God that I wanted, by surrendering every area of my life to Him. In fact that's really the attitude that Paul is trying to model for us. He's telling us that he lost everything for the sake of knowing Christ. He's basically saying that he's willing to surrender everything if he can go deeper in His relationship with God.
Think about the blessings in your life. Sometimes I think we as Christians get distracted by the blessings and forget about the One who gave them to us. Look at Abraham and his son Isaac. Abraham finally gets the son he's been longing for and God asks him to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham had to choose which was more important to him, the blessing, or the One who gave him the blessing. Ask yourself, "Would I be willing to give up any and all blessings in my life if it meant I could know God more intimately?" It's a difficult question. But, just as God gave us the blessings, He can take them away if we aren't willing to give them up. Even the gifts God gives should be considered a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of Jesus Christ.
My favorite part of these verses however, is verse 12. Paul says, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." I'd always thought this verse referred to pressing on to discover the purpose God set for us, or to do the work God has chosen us for. This too hit me pretty hard when I realized the context of the verse. Paul is talking about a relationship with Christ in verses 7-8. Sure Christ has taken hold of us for His purpose, His work, His plans, and because He loves us. But then I realized that Christ has taken hold of me to have a deep and wonderfully intimate relationship with Him. Paul is saying that he presses on to take hold of that wonderfully intimate relationship with God, that God took hold of him to have. He goes on to say that he has not fully taken hold of it yet, which goes to show that now matter how deeply and intimately we come to know the Father, we can always go deeper in our relationship with Him. There is no limit to how intimately we can know God because he is infinite in everything.
Are we willing to give up everything that would prevent us from be intimate with Him? Are we willing to lay aside anything that hinders us in our relationship with Christ? Are we willing to press on to take hold of the wonderfully intimate relationship that God desires with us? To do so, we need to surrender all to Him everyday as we pursue this friendship with Him, for which He gave His one and only Son - Jesus Christ.
posted by Joshua at 3:41 PM
2 Comments:
That post kinda reminded me of this song: I'm giving you my heart and all that is within. I lay it all down for the sake of you, my King. I'm giving you my dreams, I'm laying down my rights, I'm giving up my pride for the promise of new life. And I surrender all to you, all to you. I surrender all to you, all to you. Mm mmm mm mmm m mm... (That's me humming the rest of the tune because I don't remember all of the lyrics right now, but I would still like this to be my prayer: God, I want to surrender everything to you, even the things you've blest me with. You've been so good to me, but I am nothing compared to you. I want to live only for you and your glory . . . not for me and mine. Nothing compares to you, God. I really want to let go of everything that's holding me back from developing a more intimate relationship with you. I want to know you more.)
I love that song so so so much!!! Every word of it!
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