Giving up our lives for Jesus
by Craig Heidenreich
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Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus … (Philemon 1a).
Read Philemon 1–25
It would be hard to overstate the impact that Paul had in the shaping of the church to reflect the bigger plan of God – the mystery of God’s intention to win every tribe and tongue by sending his Son.
How did this man, so steeped in Judaism and zealous for Israel, shift so dramatically and serve this greater purpose?
I believe the key is in this verse. Paul became a ‘prisoner of Christ Jesus’ – a true ‘bond slave’ (to use the Old Testament image).
To become a prisoner of Christ, Paul gave up all his claims to self-righteousness. He considered his deeds and accomplishments as rubbish – compared with knowing Jesus.
A prisoner of Christ approaches their decision-making in a different way. They put aside their personal feelings to ask, ‘What do you want, Lord?’
Paul is a wonderful example to us when we face various challenges.
Some might conclude that Paul was a man with a strong ‘will’ to obey – I believe his secret probably lay much deeper than that. In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul states, ‘In my weakness – your strength is revealed’.
Paul learned how to ‘drink in the Holy Spirit’ when faced with difficulty, and this can be our secret as well.
Lord, I thank you for the heroes of the faith who have gone before us and are now among the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ who barrack us on as we run our race. Help us, Lord, to know you are with us always, and help us run well the race set before us.
Craig enjoys making friends with people from other countries and trying to learn a few words of greeting in their languages. He says it’s fun to see the joy on a person’s face when they hear their mother tongue. When he has some spare time, he’s happy renovating the home he and his wife recently purchased in Kapunda, South Australia.
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