Seeing Christ

It's been a while since my last blog post. I've been doing a lot of reading, meditating and praying over the course of the past couple of months. Recently, I came across a wonderful passage from a book by T. Austin-Sparks titled "The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The whole book is treasure filled with tremendous light. At the conclusion of the book, in Chapter 7, Sparks says the following to his audience:

"Well, now I close, but mark it, calling your attention then to this. How was it that the apostle Paul was able to do this - suffer the loss of all things, count all the things which were gain as mere refuse? How could he do it? It is just the captivation of being a servant. And that's a great motive, isn't it? "For me to live is Christ. I have no other object or motive in living but Christ. Christ." Look at the large place Christ has in this letter again. "For me to live is Christ." And "I can do all things through Him, Christ, who strengtheneth me." He was captivated by Christ. And that captivation by Christ, the Christ that he had seen, come to know, was so infinitely, infinitely greater beyond all these things which he at one time had counted gain. Position in the world, possessions in the world, and everything - these are nothing when you've seen the Lord Jesus! And there's no other way of victory but seeing the Lord Jesus. But it's only crucified people who truly see the Lord Jesus. Do you know that?"

Only crucified people truly see the Lord. Do you know that? People have asked me in the past "How does one see Christ?"

Now you know. You must be crucified to truly see Christ. Crucifixion means death to self/ego. You must die so that Christ can be resurrected and live in you and through you.

It is no longer I, but Christ.
(Galatians 2:20)

That is what "The Way" is - death via cruifixion, as a means of achieving eternal life. Paul told everybody who would listen:

"We preach Christ crucified."

That, my beloved ones, is the Gospel - eternal life through death on the Cross.

Jesus showed us the way. The Way!

And let's be perfectly clear on one very important issue. The Law can never resurrect the dead. We can do good things for the Lord, but those things will not produce eternal life. Love is the gateway to eternal life via the Cross. I believe this is the central lesson of Paul's conversion from a Jewish Rabbi - a Pharisee - to a follower of Christ. Put simply, a former keeper of the law was reduced to love. Two-thirds of the New Testament tells the story and illustrates the power of this conversion. It's as good as it gets!

As the Spirit said through Paul:

"and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love is the fulfillment of the law.
(Romans 13:9-10)

May you be crucified and see Christ. And may you be resurrected and know God's never-failing love.

Agape,

Steve