That I may know Him

That I may know Him

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, - Philippians 3.10

(Php 3:10)

Virtually everyone knows something about Jesus. They know that He was a great teacher. The know that He walked on water. They know that He healed the sick. They know that He died on the cross. And they know that He rose from the dead.

A lot of Christians know about Jesus. They know that He is the only hope of salvation. They know that He is God incarnate.

That's great. It is good when people know about Christ for it is in knowing about Christ that people can come to know Him.

Paul explains the difference between knowing about Christ. Knowing about Christ means that we know the facts and the teaching.

To know Him is to know the power of His resurrection. It is to know the fellowship of His sufferings. It is to be conformed to His death.

I would like to think I know a little about the power of the resurrection in my life. I hope I am living in the newness of life that that knowledge brings. I trust that something of the resurrection is seen in me.

But I have to ask myself if I really know Him. Do I know the fellowship of His sufferings? Am I conformed to His death?

Paul was willing to do whatever it took to truly know Christ. We are told several times in the Epistles that part of knowing Christ and having fellowship with Him is to suffer for His sake. We can't expect the world to understand us if we are well and truly following Christ. They hated the Light that Jesus brought so we have to expect that they are going to hate us as well. 

Suffering is nothing for us to fear – it is our chance to get to know Jesus even better. I don’t think we should go out of our way to suffer, but we should never be afraid of it.