Six Challenging Words
If you are even slightly familiar with the life of Paul and his writings, you will probably agree that, after his conversion to the Lord, his commitment was unwavering. He states that fact in so many ways in his letters and exemplifies it repeatedly as we read about his life.
I’ve been doing some thinking lately about what I consider to be an amazing and important statement that was penned by this wonderful servant of Jesus. As you will see if you continue reading this, my thinking has taken some interesting and challenging twists and turns.
You will find that statement in Philippians 1:20. That verse states something about Paul’s loyalty to his Lord and the ultimate goal of his life. This verse is merely one of many which could be cited to demonstrate that Paul’s life was first, last, and always about Jesus.
Depending upon the translation you happen to be reading, Paul writes that his goal is that…
“…Christ will be magnified/exalted/honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Those last six words (whether by life or by death) are the ones I have been doing a lot of thinking about and which have caused my thinking to take some of those interesting twists and turns I mentioned earlier. The thought that keeps coming to me has to do with the difficulty of each of those options for Paul. Actually, that difficulty applies more to me than it does Paul.
Paul “lived under a cloud” of recurring (maybe even constant) threats on his life because of his commitment to the Lord. No opposition to me and/or what I’ve tried to do for Jesus has come anywhere close to that..
So — with all of that said, here is the question that those six words keep alive in my mind:
Would it be more difficult for me to have my life taken from me (maybe even violently) because of my commitment to Jesus or to remain loyal to Him during the stresses, challenges, and opposition of daily life?
I really hope that you will not think that I’m being flippant with a comparison that I’m about to make. That is not at all my intention. It just makes some sense to me and may help to try to explain some of those twists and turns that I’ve already mentioned.
I can, with every good intention, tell Donna that I would be willing to die for her. In my “heart of hearts,” I believe that I would be willing to live up to that. However, as far as I know now the chances of that happening are fairly slim. Thus far in our lives, I have never had to come between her and an attacker, a home invader, etc. I realize that those challenges could come at any time, but we have not had to face them yet – and pray we never will.
While I haven’t had to meet those types of challenges, I do have the opportunity daily to attempt to demonstrate how much she means to me in much less dramatic ways. There are simple things that I can do on a regular basis. They do not have to be “big things” or even romantic things, but they are important. For example, taking out the trash may not be as dramatic as taking a bullet, but I hope that it counts for something!
All of that has caused me to think that, when we stand in judgement, a person who lived for Jesus will be on equal footing with a person who died for Him. On that day, it is my prayer that Jesus will see me as one who…
magnified/exalted/honored Him whether by life or by death.
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
