I’m a person who likes to read through books of the Bible during my quiet times with the Lord, as it helps me not overlook parts of the Bible. The past couple weeks I’ve been reading through the book of Acts as it describes a power and a oneness with the Spirit to level that I don’t think I’ve experienced yet. And for a while now, I’ve felt God really placing a desire on my heart to grow in my oneness with the Spirit.
The last couple days I’ve been reading the chapters on the Saul’s conversion and the beginning of his (Paul’s) ministry. I normally just read Paul’s letters and often overlook the story and events in his ministry and the work God did through him throughout his life. It’s quite an amazing story and a wonderful example of how God uses messed up sinners like us to bring about His Kingdom and purpose here on this earth. And reading his story actually makes what he says in his letters that much more powerful because it shows where God took him from to the place He brought him to: from a place where he was totally committed to destroying the name of Christ to a place where saw and lived for nothing but Christ.
One of the verses that really sums up what Paul’s relationship with the Lord looked like comes in 1 Corinthians.
“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 1 Cor. 2:2
This is an amazing statement and one that is hard for me to fully grasp because it seems so impossible to attain. I think for most of my Christian walk, I’ve lived it as one who tries to make Christ first priority. It seems like a pretty godly way to live. God wants us to place Him first in our life. But I think when I view God as a priority, it leaves room for other things to come in. Cause I think there’s a difference between prioritizing something and making it the only thing. To prioritize something means you make it first. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a second or third thing as well; it just means you begin with it. But Jesus isn’t someone that should just be first. He says so in the Bible…
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Revelation 22:13
Jesus should be the only thing in my life. He shouldn’t just be some person that I read about and talk with in the morning or at various times throughout the day. He should be the only thing that I think about, the only thing that motivates me, the only thing that I live for. And as much as I love the Lord and want to follow His will and plan in my life and all that, I don’t think I’m at a place where He’s all that I see/live for all the time. There are so many distractions in this world that fight for my attention such as sports, friends, and work that makes it hard to always be focused on Christ. Even ministry work (such as what I’m doing right now on the Race), can distract me from the person I should be focused on, Jesus.
But I’m sure that Paul dealt with those same distractions and yet he could still write that he determined not to know anything but Jesus Christ. And if Paul could reach a point like that, then why couldn’t I, by God’s grace, reach that as well? How I would love to be able to say that nothing else in life mattered (sports, success, approval from others, comfortableness, marriage, etc.) except knowing Christ. I think I can say that knowing Christ is the most important, but saying that nothing else matters is easier said than done.
I want to be committed to Jesus and nothing else. I don’t even want to be committed to ministry or His Kingdom’s advancement; I want to be committed to the Person of Jesus Christ. I want to see Him as my first and last relationship. I want everything to become not worth comparing to the knowledge of the Holy One. I want my life to have no end, no aim, and no purpose except that of knowing the Lord. Only by God’s grace can this be attained, so I pray that this year will be one of making God first and last, rather than just first.
