Philippians 3:10. that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
One of the most important lessons you can learn as you grow up with Jesus is that just because you are a Christian doesn’t mean everything should be easy. In fact, it is the opposite. Being a Christian can make your life harder. It SHOULD make your life harder because when you choose to help others, share with others, and be kind to others like Jesus did, well, that can be really hard at times. And then there’s forgiving others. That can be really, really hard sometimes.
Look at what Paul says in today’s verse. First he says that he wants to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection. We talked about resurrection power yesterday. It is our super power. Resurrection power is an amazing gift from God. But it sure doesn’t make life easy. Again, let’s go back to our favorite superhero. Did their life get easier when they got their super power? In some ways, yes it did. But in other ways it got much harder. Why? Because as his Uncle Ben told Peter Parker (Spiderman), “With great power comes great responsibility.”
That’s why Paul goes from wanting to know Jesus’ resurrection power to wanting to share in his sufferings.
Does that sound crazy to you? Why would anyone want to share in suffering? Why would anyone want life to be harder? To answer this, we need to ask, “why did Jesus choose to suffer for us?” We share in the sufferings of Jesus because HE FIRST SHARED IN OUR SUFFERING. Why? Because he loves us and he knew that only by suffering like we do could he help us.
How can we help others? Only by sharing in their suffering. Listening to them. Helping them. Giving to them. Being kind to them when no one else will. And when we share in the suffering of others like this, we are sharing in the suffering of Jesus.
And then Paul says we become like Jesus in his death.
This may sound even crazier. But we weren’t resurrected with Jesus spiritually so that we could do whatever we want and be selfish until we die and go to Heaven. NO! We were resurrected like Jesus so that we can die like Jesus.
What was Jesus like when he died on the cross? He was loving. He was caring. He was courageous. He was obedient to God. He was putting others ahead of himself.
What should we be like every day as resurrected Christians? All these same things.
This is what being a Christian is all about – loving others in sacrificial ways like Jesus did. It’s not about obeying rules, or even going to church. It’s about obeying rules so that you can love others and sacrifice for them. It’s about going to church so that you can love others and sacrifice for them.
Jesus went from suffering, to dying, to rising. With Jesus, we go from rising, to dying, to suffering for others. This is how we know Jesus and become like him.
You: How can we know Jesus especially when life gets hard?
You with Jesus: What can you sacrifice today for the sake of others?
Prayer: Father, show me today how to love others even when it hurts. I want to know Jesus, but sometimes I only want to know the easy parts of being like him. Show me the selfish parts of me that need to die on the cross. Amen.
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