But Christ has shown me that what I once thought was valuable is worthless. Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ and to know that I belong to him. I could not make myself acceptable to God by obeying the Law of Moses. God accepted me simply because of my faith in Christ. All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, so that somehow I also may be raised to life.
Philippians 3: 7 - 11
About 50 years ago, as young and enthusiastic disciples of Jesus we would sing these words:
TO BE LIKE JESUS
TO BE LIKE JESUS
ALL I ASK, TO BE LIKE HIM
ALL THROUGH LIFE’S JOURNEY
FROM EARTH TO GLORY
ALL I ASK, TO BE LIKE HIM
Our hearts were sincere as we thought about the bold proclamation of Jesus and the miracles. Yes, the miracles were amazing and being like Jesus meant that we would see them too! We pondered being used by God to accomplish great things here on this earth as we would see many, many people turn their hearts to Jesus. For some, that happened, but for most the grand vision of spiritual greatness never came to pass! Life was about “ordinary” things, like jobs and children and family. The Holy Spirit wanted us to show the world around us what it was like to be like Jesus in the carpenter shop, and we have spent years doing just that.
There is one more thing for each of us in being like Jesus. Suffering and dying like Jesus did is how He wants us to conclude our journey here on earth. If it were just dying, that might not be so hard, but Jesus suffered and we must do that as well.
“Jesus, after all these years I still want to be like You. I know now that the greatest thing I can do today is to live each moment exactly the way You would have. Truthfully, Lord all I need is to be like You! May You, Jesus be praised now and forever. Amen.”
No comments:
Post a Comment