How far will I go in obeying my Lord?

“…for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ…” (Philippians 3:8 NAS95).

Many wonderful and horrible, but false things, have been said about the apostle Paul by believers and non-believers alike throughout the centuries. While alive, his praises were sung by grateful Christians throughout the Roman Empire. At the same time, enemies of the cross, Jewish and Gentiles, sang their curses at him as well. Paul, like his Lord before him, had a positive and negative impact among the masses. For us, believers and Gentile believers at that, the apostle Paul was, apart from Christ Jesus Himself and the Spirit, the best blessing we have received from God. His epistles, even after all this time, continue to bless us in so many ways that we feel wordless at times. As the apostle to the Gentiles, we owe him our eternal gratitude. Not only his writings, but also his example as a believer himself continue to impact and encourage the faith of millions across the globe.

There is one area of Paul’s life that keeps influencing me in many positive ways, and that is his obedience to His Lord and Master. If we recall his convertion, we remember that he was on his way to Damascus with authority from the Sanhedrin to imprison and possibly kill any Jew or proselyte who had turned to Messiah Jesus. We also recall that while nearing that ancient city, the God of the universe showed up and converted Paul from unbelief to belief and commanded him to enter into the city for further instructions. The Scriptures tell us that while waiting for those instructions, a believer was sent to Paul with these words: “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15 NAS95). Most believers understand how instrumental Paul was in spreading the gospel throughout the ancient world, and that indeed, the Lord Jesus used him supernaturally to preach His message and to build His church, in fulfillment to the first portion of the above message. What many don’t realize is that the second part of the aforementioned message was also prophetic and came to pass in Paul’s life. After reading and studying his letters, we come to see that Paul did indeed suffer for his Master’s sake. Philippians 3 gives us the heart of Paul in this area of suffering for Jesus, what he already had lost in service to His Lord and God, and how low in life he was willing to go with the sole goal of pleasing his Savior.

It is this idea that prompted me to write this post: how far will I go in my obedience to my Master? How much am I willing to lose that I might gain Christ Jesus? Paul, the other apostles and countless Christians have sacrificed some much, even their physical lives, so they could please their Lord. History is replete with examples of martyrs for Jesus, who lost it all while alive and also paid the ultimate price with their deaths. How much will I sacrifice for Him, who saved my soul? There is a lot of talk of a Jesus and a gospel nowadays, but the spokesmen never mention not even an ounce of sacrifice that people must make so as to obey the Messiah. Oh wait! I’m wrong. The only sacrifice people must make in this “new gospel” is money. On the other hand, the true Christ Jesus says:  “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25 NAS95). Wow, what a difference between messages!!! To be a disciple, just a disciple and a follower of the true Messiah, the price could be highly. Christ asks for everything one has. One must be willing to give up all that the Lord requires, no matter how costly and valuable.

Dying is not a big thing for me. In many aspects, death is like a welcome friend to me. I mean, absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8) is the best experience that will ever happen to me. Death will be the end of all my miseries down here on this earth, and the beginning of all my joys up in heaven with none other than my Lord. It is the living that I struggle with. My great toil is that while I remain in the body, I must endure many horrible things; things that I don’t agree with; circumstances that destroy my pride and ego; situations that are meant to obliterate my selfish confidence and self-reliance, and cultivate my trust in the God of my salvation. I have seen and tasted that the Lord is good so many times in my life to understand that my God is for me and working every single thing in my life for my good (Romans 8:28). Yet how much it hurts when God is destroying one’s kingdom, so His can be established. When He shatters one’s health, takes away all comforts and comforters, deprives you of all friends, forces you to move constantly, doesn’t give you the home you have prayed for so many years, gives you the child your wife and you prayed for so long just to take his/her life while in the womb, kills the physical capabilities that makes you a man or a woman, and on top of all that, asks you to be long-suffering and to wait for Him at times, knowing that many of your requests and petitions will never come to pass, and that things you hate will definitely come to pass because that’s God will for your life, I say that the spirit of Paul in Philippians 3 is needed in one’s spiritual walk. Lately the Lord has been ministering to me about my response to difficult and painful situations, and I think that writing about that is going to be helpful here. Basically, this is what I have come to understand: I can either play the violin, which means to complain and make a big deal of my self-pity with no way to fix the problem or I can trust God, praise Him for all He graciously has done in my life and wait for His power to give me victory over the said situation. I cannot do both. I cannot complain and praise Him at the same time. I have come to see that it is far better for my soul to do the latter; the former is sinful, ungrateful and pointless since no evil circumstance has ever been changed because of complaining. Conversely, the Scriptures are filled with examples of people praising and trusting God and them and their situations being changed by the mighty power of the Almighty Lord. Slowly but securely I have been opting for the second option, and what a difference!!!