"Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Phil. 3:21
One thing I realise that the greatest obstacle that we face in the Christian life is not external. It is not work, relationships, other people, or whatever else. It is ourselves. Often we like to put the blame on other things, and make excuses for ourselves. We look everywhere else except ourselves. Why do I say this? Because God has clearly promised in His Word that He has overcome the world. "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33. "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." Phil 4:13. God has promised He can overcome anything that we face in this world. So when we face problems and feel like we don't know what to do, it is not that God is not able to help us. The problem is that we are not surrendered to Him.
I believe Paul could write his famous Philippians 4:13, because he could also write this verse- "...and I count all things but loss but for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whim I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ..." Phil 3:8. He could do everything through Christ because He was fully surrendered to Christ- he laid aside everything else, his own desires, his own dreams, his own achievements, and let Christ take over. He had nothing save Christ in his life, so that Christ could be everything; and when Christ is everything, there is no limit to what He can do. It's amazing.
But the hard part is surrendering. If there's one thing that we as humans don't like to do, it's surrendering. We cling on so hard to our own desires, our own feelings, our own thoughts. We refuse to step our of our comfort zone for Him. We want to follow Him but are afraid to suffer in the process. We refuse to give up our own dreams to seek God's will. We refuse to trust Him to take care of our lives, refuse to believe that He really has the best in mind for us. We choose our own way of doing things. In short, we are not taking up our cross.
Is it possible? To deny the flesh, deny ourselves and follow Christ wholeheartedly in our lives? No one said it was going to be easy! Look at the words that Paul uses- "change our vile body, fashioned, subdue." It is going to be a struggle, a major one. But the above verse makes it clear that Christ is able. What we cannot do, He can do in us. But we must be willing to let Him. We must be willing to submit our whole lives to Him and let Him transform it, even though the process will be long and hard.
And again we come to the question, why would we want to do this? Why would we be willing to lay down so much? Because He did it for us, and calls us to follow Him. In Jesus we have the greatest example of what it means to surrender all. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil 2:5-8. Remember that Jesus too, became a man like us. He took on a fleshy body, and faced all the temptations and struggles of the flesh that we face. But because He was God, He overcame them all. He surrendered all, and accomplished the mighty work that the Father had given Him to do, in the face of everything that Satan could hurl at Him.
We will never be perfect like He was, and we will fail in many ways, but we can be transformed into His likeness at least. "...that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body..." With the Spirit's help we can learn to seek Him wholeheartedly and be dead to ourselves; it will be a great struggle, and many times we will fall, but each time He will pick us up.
"Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." 2 Cor. 2:14
One thing I realise that the greatest obstacle that we face in the Christian life is not external. It is not work, relationships, other people, or whatever else. It is ourselves. Often we like to put the blame on other things, and make excuses for ourselves. We look everywhere else except ourselves. Why do I say this? Because God has clearly promised in His Word that He has overcome the world. "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33. "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." Phil 4:13. God has promised He can overcome anything that we face in this world. So when we face problems and feel like we don't know what to do, it is not that God is not able to help us. The problem is that we are not surrendered to Him.
I believe Paul could write his famous Philippians 4:13, because he could also write this verse- "...and I count all things but loss but for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whim I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ..." Phil 3:8. He could do everything through Christ because He was fully surrendered to Christ- he laid aside everything else, his own desires, his own dreams, his own achievements, and let Christ take over. He had nothing save Christ in his life, so that Christ could be everything; and when Christ is everything, there is no limit to what He can do. It's amazing.
But the hard part is surrendering. If there's one thing that we as humans don't like to do, it's surrendering. We cling on so hard to our own desires, our own feelings, our own thoughts. We refuse to step our of our comfort zone for Him. We want to follow Him but are afraid to suffer in the process. We refuse to give up our own dreams to seek God's will. We refuse to trust Him to take care of our lives, refuse to believe that He really has the best in mind for us. We choose our own way of doing things. In short, we are not taking up our cross.
Is it possible? To deny the flesh, deny ourselves and follow Christ wholeheartedly in our lives? No one said it was going to be easy! Look at the words that Paul uses- "change our vile body, fashioned, subdue." It is going to be a struggle, a major one. But the above verse makes it clear that Christ is able. What we cannot do, He can do in us. But we must be willing to let Him. We must be willing to submit our whole lives to Him and let Him transform it, even though the process will be long and hard.
And again we come to the question, why would we want to do this? Why would we be willing to lay down so much? Because He did it for us, and calls us to follow Him. In Jesus we have the greatest example of what it means to surrender all. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil 2:5-8. Remember that Jesus too, became a man like us. He took on a fleshy body, and faced all the temptations and struggles of the flesh that we face. But because He was God, He overcame them all. He surrendered all, and accomplished the mighty work that the Father had given Him to do, in the face of everything that Satan could hurl at Him.
We will never be perfect like He was, and we will fail in many ways, but we can be transformed into His likeness at least. "...that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body..." With the Spirit's help we can learn to seek Him wholeheartedly and be dead to ourselves; it will be a great struggle, and many times we will fall, but each time He will pick us up.
"Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." 2 Cor. 2:14
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