It seems to me that we can regard Christ as so magnificent and generous, so wise and powerful, that we only worship Him at a certain distance and cannot imagine daring to even attempt to be and act as He did. Yet Jesus says (John 14:12) that "he who believes in Me will do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do." I believe that if Jesus wants us to be His disciples and to truly be His "beloved disciples," to be His companions as much as we possibly can, we need to actively seek to be poor with Christ, poor to suffer with the suffering Christ, to love hopelessly and without thought of reward, just as He did and does. We need to worship Jesus sincerely, by the closest imitation possible. And if I do sincerely attempt this and begin to live with such a yearning, then the passion that drives Paul in what he describes here suddenly becomes so much more comprehensible.... |