“My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.” Philippians 3:10 (HCSB)

 

All of us have a decision to make – are we going to be content, satisfied, with going through the motions at church, or are we going to be on fire for the Living God? It’s a simple question, with only one right answer, but your decision will impact every single aspect of your life, starting with your relationship with the Father.

 

 A.W. Tozer, in his book, “The Pursuit of God,” deals at length and with a great deal of candor about the thing that should be first in our lives – an unquenchable, insatiable, burning desire to know God. And, I’m not talking about knowing Him in the academic sense, but knowing Him relationally – gaining an intimacy with our Savior that can only come from conforming your life to His, your will to His, and working hard to experience Him in every corner of your being. To be, as Tozer says, “a thirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.” I wish people still wrote like this!

 

Tozer lays considerable responsibility for the lack of fire in the church at the pulpits. He says, “But this hunger must be recognized by our religious leaders. Current evangelicalism has (to change the figure) laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel.” He continues, “It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the kingdom, to see God’s children starving while actually seated at the Father’s table.” Wow. Translation: too many leaders in today’s church have an incredible knowledge of Christ – they know all about Him, in fact – but they don’t know Him. And, that lack of intimacy in knowing Christ can and will only result in shepherding generations of Christians who lack that intimacy as well. Clearly, as leaders, we must do better – for our own sakes, and those to whom we have been called to minister.

 

But, we also, as individuals, have a sacred obligation to strive to know the Creator more. We were created to grow spiritually, to burn with a desire to love deeper and learn more – to never stop pursuing the God who saved us. That’s what Paul was talking about in Philippians 3:10. He had everything the world would offer him – he was a recognized leader in the Jewish church. He knew his stuff, but that’s all it was – stuff. He never really understood what “surpassing value” (v. 8) was until he had an intimate encounter with the risen Lord. From that point forward, Paul wanted “to know Him;” not just intellectually, but to have a deep, abiding, personal relationship with Him. It was the singular focus of his life, and guided everything he did. This is our example – we need to pay attention.

God has called us to know Him better, by giving Christ His fullness. We only have one question to answer: will we be on fire for Him?