"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death" (Philippians 3:10)
Do you ever get the feeling that others know Christ more than you? That to them, He is more real, more personal?
Then there are others, who profess Christ, but yet seem more careless (or to care less) with their relationship.
Hopefully, to know Him better is to only want to know Him better. And to know Him is to feel that you haven't even begun to know Him.
May God give us all the desire, the longing, the starvation even, to know Him more!
Richard
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4 comments:
Exactly!
Hey. I just read this, and I thought I should comment...
This verse and the two that follow have been my theme this semester. My closest friends and I have continued to remind each other of this theme using the phrase "Just to know Him" as our motivation for all that we have done. Today, I know Christ more/better than I ever have, but, as you point out, the more I know Him, all I want is to know Him more. I cannot get enough!
I am somewhat disappointed that most Bibles separate verses 11 and 12 with a new heading. Reading them together, one finds that knowing Christ is "that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Knowing Him is the purpose of my existence. When I live just to know Him, I am who I was created to be. How exciting!
John 15.15 - Knowing Him (and doing what He commands - verse 14) makes the difference between being just a servant and being a friend. When I live just to know Him, the Creator of the universe calls me 'friend!' How exciting!
John 17.3 - Knowing Him is eternal life. When I live just to know Him, all the perks of eternity with Him can start now! How exciting!
More than ever, I feel I can say with Paul "I *want* to know Christ." I want to know "the power of His resurrection." I want to know "the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings." I want to become "like Him in His death."
Recently, I have seen so many glimpses of the power of knowing Him. Right now, my prayer is to know what it means to experience the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings.
Jesus, I want to know You till it hurts! Am I ready for that kind of knowledge of You? How can I ever be ready for something so beyond the scope of my understanding as knowing You - the One True God? You know my limits. Hit me with as much of You as I can take, then hit me with a little more. I live Just to know You. Amen.
-mo
oh, yeah. I'm out of school this week. Call me sometime, and we'll chat about this. I love this stuff!
I love you.
-mo
Dear Mo,
I fear that you may one day know the fellowship of His suffering.
It is not so much the "knowing Him until it hurts" as the derision of your fellow man, the pain of actual physical hurt at the hands of those around you, and even death as a martyr simply because you love Christ more than you love anything else.
Although I hear of this in other lands, I do not believe that we as Americans (at least the vast majority of us) cannot even begin to comprehend what is involved in suffering for Christ, or as this passage has it, the fellowship of His suffering (koinonia autos pathema). Note that this is the same word "koinonia" that is to be the fellowship of the body/people of Christ and the possibility that "pathema" relates to the word from which we derive "pathos."
[See www.blueletterbible.org for an online study of this verse.]
Therefore, it is even more than suffering for Christ, but a suffering with Christ, and His suffering was more than any of us would humanly want to go through. Even He looking forward prayed that the cup might pass from Him, but out of love and obedience He took upon Himself the pain and suffering that we might be saved.
And we, for the most part, are "happy" to "enjoy" the salvation He wrought for us.
Yes, my dear, to share in the fellowship of His suffering is not what I would wish for you, but that you would love Christ enough to desire it makes my heart glad.
Love you,
Unc
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