To Know Christ

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead."  Philippians 3:10

Scary.  That's my first thought.  When I wrote it in my journal this morning, and as I typed it just now, I had to will my hands to work.  "Share in His sufferings..."  That brings images to mind of losing my family or being diagnosed with something unfathomable.  Neither of which, if I'm honest, do I wake up in the morning hoping will be brewing next to my morning coffee.  So how could Paul say such a thing?  I mean, not just say ... but live.  Yeesh.

Here's what poured out of God's loving hand straight to my heart as I spoke these fears to Him and began to consider Paul and what knowledge he had backing his bold statements ...

Life.  This life.  This material life is death.  All Fading.  All finite.  Knowing Christ alone, holding His perspective - on life, on suffering, on the power of resurrection (Life itself, the real, true, eternally significant, eternity-filled-kind-of-life-after-death-to-all-that-is-fleeting) is only attainable through knowing Christ.  Knowing Christ, and knowing Him alone.  Not in a cerebral sense as much as knowing through experience of His working, His nature, His presence...intimately knowing. Like a wife knows a husband, not like a doctoral student knows Christopher Columbus after completing a dissertation on "The Explorer who Discovered our Home."  Knowing, like Paul knew Christ.

And maybe that's my problem.  Maybe that's our problem. We are scared to know Christ in His sufferings because we know Christ way more like a doctoral student than we'd like to admit.   Maybe it's our problem and our challenge all rolled into one.  Maybe we need to resolve to know Christ as Paul did.

"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."  I Corinthians 2:2

Pretty tall order.  Pretty sure it's worth it.  Weren't we created to know Christ like this?