Knowing Christ is what I want.

Sometimes I think I forget what the real center, the focus of being a Christian is. I don't mean this as a rebuke, just as a reminder. The bottom line is that everything else is secondary to knowing Christ.

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead." Philippians 3:10-11 

Paul was no simpleton and he felt the responsibility of leadership for churches in pretty much the known world at the time. I say that because I have to remember that Paul was not a monk who could cloister himself from the demands of life. He was also a self-supporting missionary. So, when he talks about what is the bottom line of spirituality, I should pay attention. 

First of all, knowing Christ is the end of all things. A friend of mine was pastoring and working as a drywall contractor. I worked with him one day and in the heat of a moment he said, "There is no Jesus in the kingdom of drywall!" Well, God showed him there was (yes, without my help). 

Paul then links knowing Christ to the power of his resurrection. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is the power that God displays in my life to change me into the image of Jesus Christ. 

Here's the one I don't want to hear but, need to hear the most. I need to know Christ in the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, which leads me to die to myself, becoming like him in his death. There was this song by Barry McGuire the went something like this,"I walked a mile with pleasure and she chattered all the way, and never a thing I learned from her, when pleasure walked with me. Then I walked a mile with sorrow and never a word said she, but Oh, the things I learned from her, when sorrow walked with me." When I submit to God in the midst of sorrow, God reveals himself to me.

All this is about knowing Christ and somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. That's the goal according to Paul. The resurrection from the dead. Remember Paul said before Christ we were dead in our sins. Now we are made alive in Christ. Dying to ourselves produces resurrection life in Christ. We have a new life now and when Jesus comes again we are going to live a new life in eternity with him!

Father, thank you that in Christ we can live a new life. May we know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings and  becoming like him in his death and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead! Praise be to you in us today!