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.”

            As Christ followers, our purpose in life is to glorify God in all we do and to become more like His Son. Something that can get glazed over is the resurrection and how powerful it was, that He suffered so much and came back to life three days later. If we just sit and think about the fact that Jesus came back to life, it is unimaginable and absolutely crazy. In verse 11 of chapter 3 it finishes this statement by saying, “that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” As we walk with the Lord and see how powerful His death, burial and resurrection were and how it still applies to us today, we should examine our lives and see how we can become more like Christ in these three aspects. The Christian life isn’t always easy, there is suffering and trials that come, but this is refining us and making us more into a child of God.  We have to die to ourselves, which means sacrificing our lives to the Lord and leaving all of ourselves behind and being fully dependent on the Lord. When we die to ourselves, we become like Christ because He died for us and then He gives us new life in Him, allowing for us to grow closer with Him, just as He was resurrected.

Jesus did all of this physically, but we are called to die spiritually and resurrect with new life from the power of God. How awesome is it that we get to have a personal relationship with the One who created all things and the Son who came down and died a painful death on the cross for us. Each step we take, no matter what is thrown our way, we have a Protector who is fighting for us and is always by our side, giving joy and peace in the most difficult trials. It doesn’t matter what season we are in, or if we are in the valley or on the mountaintop, He is the same all the time and is always worthy to be praised. For me, I need to remember that through every storm, there is a calm and that I am never alone. I have to remember that God is making me more into the image of His Son and cling to Him in every season. He has given me new life through resurrection in Him and is showing me more of what it is like to live for Christ. It’s not always an easy process, but there is joy in being refined because I am becoming more like Jesus, who gave me new life. My application for this is to pray that the Lord would show me how to have joy in every season and help me to understand the power of His resurrection.