Paul apprehended a key revelation that changed his life. It was insight into true surrender of the self-will for the will of God. It brought him to the place of accepting the crucified and resurrected life of Messiah Jesus and embracing the new life in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
RELEVANCE
To Paul this meant total surrender. For me, it begs some questions: first of all, am I willing to surrender ALL for Christ? If I say in my heart, yes, then it leads me to ask some more questions:
- When God brings me to tough convictions of heart am I willing to walk in them?
- When God issues me some instructions am I willing to obey and follow through?
- When God directs me to participate in something He is doing, am I willing to do so?
- When some big challenges/giants face me am I willing to trust God, fight and persevere?
- When I achieve success in any area am I willing to give God the glory?
The real issue at heart is identifying with the LORD; identifying with His interests above my self-interests. There will always be tests in life to see how much we will be willing to identify with the crucified and resurrected life of Christ. It takes humility and maturity of faith; a faith that trusts God in all things.
The way I look at it is like being on the LORD’s team: submitting to His game book; running His plays; accepting His designated field positions; enduring His training process; living within His rules of order.
It brings me to question another one of Paul’s statements: am I willing to identify with Him to truly “know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11)?
REFLECT AND RELATE
What do you think about identifying with the questions above?
What questions would you pose for yourself?
How would you answer them?
REFERENCES
Philippians 3:7-21