I stumbled upon a quote from Charles Spurgeon a few months back and his words pierced my heart and mind.
Its hard to put into words what Jesus does to a person when they accept him not for the religious idea of who he is but for the personal friend and savior.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV.
Paul (previously known as Saul, one of the most prestigious Jewish religious leaders who persecuted Christians before his conversion) explains that when we come to the knowledge of who Jesus is and accept him as savior, we are made into a new creation, the old (spiritually dead) spirit dies with Christ and we are given the holy spirit and new life in Christ in which we can spend eternity with Him.
This is the most beautiful news!
Just like Saul, we can have all the religion we want. We can do all the right things, we can donate our time and money, help the poor, know the bible cover to cover and still be spiritually dead.
As scary as that sounds, its true and can be found all throughout the scriptures.
In chapter three of Philippians Paul talks about having all the boxes checked. He was a respected and wealthy Jewish Pharisee; he could tell you every law and quote the torah front and back yet he was still separated from Christ.
It wasn’t until Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus where he lost his vision and surrendered his life to Christ that he finally got it. Nothing Saul could do would get him into eternity with the Father outside of Christ.
Paul said all that he had before Christ was like literal dung (animal poop) compared to knowing Christ.
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” Philippians 3:7-9 ESV.
In just the last four or five years I’ve learn a lot from Paul about how passionate and real his love for the things of God were. He was such a strong example and testimony of who Jesus is and I desire to have the same passion.
For Paul, Jesus wasn’t part of his life, he was everything.
When we die to ourselves we no longer live for ourselves but for Christ. Over time I’ve seen the change in my heart for the things of God is my prayer is that as I grow closer and closer to Jesus the people around me will see that difference too.
As a follower of Christ, Jesus isn’t an additive that is going to solve all my problems (the way I want them to be solved anyway).Jesus isn’t necessarily going to bring you wealth or provide for you in the way society deems successful, yet when you truly come to know Jesus, the desires and passions of your heart begin to change and conform to what Gods word says. The goals we have in this life, the things we talk about, how we treat one another begin to all point to Christ.
I don’t just want a relationship when its convenient, I want one that remains faithful through all the mess, through the good and the bad and Jesus proves true to that. I don’t just want to profess Jesus on Sundays and live the rest of the week in opposition of his teachings. The motive for claiming Christianity shouldn’t be to make me feel better or bring some peace to my life; Jesus is my life and as followers of Christ we should desire and want to walk in a relationship with him.
I hope that’s your prayer as it is mine, to know God personally, to love him wholeheartedly and desire to be conformed more and more to who Jesus is.
-Paige Mackenzie
Desert Photo by Keagan Henman on Unsplash
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