I don’t know of anyone in the bible whose passion for the gospel surpassed that of Paul. It is clear that the encounter Paul had with Jesus radically changed his life to the point that he would boldly declare “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). This declaration of Paul was the evidence that his life was no longer his own and he lived it sacrificially for the sake of the Gospel. In all of Paul’s letters, he emphasized the idea of living for the sake of the Gospel, doing whatever he is doing so that as many people will know Christ. He denied himself and disciplined it to make Christ known. Indeed, every part of Paul’s life was for Christ and the things that pleased Him. Paul’s aim was to glorify God in his body and out of it. He encouraged other Christians like us to do the same, to be his imitators in this regard. I personally don’t think there’s anything more noble in life and more beautiful to see when followers of Christ are able to lay down their lives for the sake of others to know Christ and to do so in every area of their life on earth until death.
The level of sacrifice Paul made so that many would know Christ is very humbling and in all honesty it can feel unachievable especially for our generation. In fact, the idea of sacrifice is so far fetched of a concept today that when it is brought up, it is quickly dismissed. No one likes to suffer, no one wants to be placed in uncomfortable situations, no one wants to lack, in fact, no one chooses to suffer. Our generation loves the concept of “soft life” which as defined by Dictionary.com “refers to a lifestyle of comfort and relaxation with minimal challenges or stress”. Yet, the bible calls us to be followers of Christ, and as such, we should be people who actually choose, voluntarily, deliberately to suffer and this is not suffering for suffering’s sake but rather, for the sake of Christ, the Gospel. In chapter 9 of 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about how he did just that; he, being free and belonging to no man made himself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible (1 Corinthians 9:19). Paul’s encouragement to us was that we would look to the heavenly reward we will receive and not the earthly rewards the world can offer as these will fade and become corrupt. We should be looking to heaven and the things above where Christ is seated (Colossians 3:1). As long as Christ is elevated and more valued to us than the things of this world, we will be able to serve him wholeheartedly. However, if he is not, then our service to him will only be half-hearted and the things of this world will appeal more to us than the things of God. Sadly, this is the predicament most professing Christians find themselves in. If that is you, take heart there is hope and I would like to offer two encouragements that I jumped out to me this week.
First, our love for Christ can grow if we are willing to put in the work. Just as our love for things grow over time when it is nurtured, our love for Christ can also grow. Married couples who care about each other are always in the practice of learning about each other and knowing each other so that their love can be maintained. In the same way, we too must be in the constant mindset of growing our love and affections for God. Fortunately, God has made it possible for us to know Him and He has given us promises that we can hold on to. One such promise is “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14a). The mistake we commonly make is that we think our love will always remain, that it does not need to be nurtured, that we will always love God or “feel” that we love Him. Other times, we are just not conscious of the fact that we need to work at our relationship with God. We often will relegate that to the Lord Himself, as something that He will do on our behalf. Know therefore that your love for Christ can grow and will grow if you put in the work of searching God with all your heart. This will require you to set time aside for God, to seek to be doing the things that He loves, to be in the presence of likeminded people to help you in your search, it will require you to be disciplined. It will require you to prioritize Christ above everything else, it will be demanding, make no mistake about that but I guarantee you the benefits far outweigh the difficulties or the losses you may feel you contracted in the process. Therefore, decide today what steps you will take to grow your love for Christ and trust that by so doing He too will meet you and increase your love for Him. You may start with the basic: prayer, reading and meditating the word of God. As you do this, do it so consistently like an athlete who trains himself vigorously for a race in a manner as to win the prize. Train yourself too by being diligent and consistent in your reading of the word of God, your meditation of it and prayer. Before you know it, you will realize your need for God, your inadequacy in life without Him and the depth of love He has shown you. As you do that, you will naturally live a life of surrender, a life of sacrifice for His name’s sake filled with joy, gratitude and hope.
Second, learn from the “great cloud of witness” you have around you. We ought to learn from one another what it looks like to love Christ above everything else. The life of other believers around us or from the past are a great way to see in action how Christ is elevated, how they are living or have lived sacrificially for the sake of knowing Christ and making him known. These are important to see because we easily get discouraged by our sin, our failure, and the hardships of life but when we see Christ elevated in the lives of other likeminded Christians, it encourages our hearts and spurs us to likewise. Indeed, often times, it is by looking at the life of someone else that we are able to see in action what true sacrificial living is. I am personally grateful to the many brothers and sisters around the world who encourage me with their testimony and life. I particularly love to hear about stories of missionaries or of believers that live in places where there is no freedom of religion or in places where the hostility with Christ is notable. Hearing their stories always increase my faith and my understanding about what it means to deny yourself, or to become a slave for Christ for the sake of winning souls to Christ. Their tenacity in the face of suffering pushes me to do better, to be better and to fall more on my knees. The bible is clear that those who satisfy the desires of the flesh cannot please God and the flesh is always in opposition to the Spirit. So, when I desire too much of the flesh, then I know for a fact that I have been leaning to the flesh to fill any void that was meant to be filled by the Spirit of the living God in me. This is one of the reasons the bible contains many stories of people who also lived sacrificially in order to encourage us to do likewise and to not “grow weary in doing good because at the right time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). I will not be able to tell you how many times I have been in a small group from church and have been encouraged by hearing how a brother or a sister has gone through a challenged and overcame it, or how their sacrificial living has made them grow in the Lord. No wonder we are encouraged to not neglect to meet with one another (Hebrews 10:25)! In fact, yesterday, I was encouraged by a brother in Christ at the funeral of his wife. During the hardship he faced – battling his wife’s sickness, he never once wavered in his faith in God, it was quite the opposite. He kept declaring the wonders of God, he kept praying, he even used this terrible situation to speak boldly of his faith in the God who saves. In the midst of his suffering, he was a witness to the world and to us. And boy, what a beautiful and powerful witness it was! I pray to be able to do the same with my life and to glorify God in my body whether in joy or pain, in life or death.
Finally, let us remember that we were bought at a high price. Our lives cost God His one and only Son Jesus, who was the Lamb of God able to take away the sins of the world. By his blood, he purchased men for God (Revelation 5:9). The love that God has for us was manifested in that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This love is an everlasting one, it continues to fill us even today. Therefore, like Paul, we too can respond to this love by laying it all for the sake of Christ. May that be our goal.
A Word Aptly Spoken 