“If on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.”
It’s not like he was saying, “If you disagree with me, God’ll show you!” I don’t get from Paul that it was his way or the highway. He just knew that the way to follow Christ in a mature way is the way he prescribes here. He knew that the only way to know and experience Christ requires knowing him in the power of his resurrection, through participating in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and pressing on to the goal to win the prize for which God calls us heavenward.
He knew there was no alternate path to Christian maturity, no viable way to swap the narrow way for an easy way.
In the very next verse he says, “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” I’ve always taken this and what he said in another place, “Follow me as I follow Christ” to mean: Follow me insofar as I follow him; i.e., Follow me only when I’m following him and if I stop following him, you should stop following me.)
The spirit of his prescription here is: If you don’t agree with me about the mature journey toward Christlikeness and the deepest experience of God, don’t take my word for it, go to God!
That’s what mature Christians do. They don’t just take others’ word for it (including their pastor or spiritual mentor). They don’t just parrot what they’ve been told. They go to God to find out what he requires of them. They listen to the Spirit on how to think and act in such a way as to reflect a mature faith.
“These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit,” says Paul elsewhere. “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” Daniel, also a man of considerable spiritual depth, said, “He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things.”
“If on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.” This is too important for you to dismiss off-hand. If we want to be mature followers of Jesus we have to go to God and find out for ourselves how to get there. Don’t take my word for it, even Paul’s, go to God and get a revelation.
It makes me sad that so many Christians live on the original saving revelation that they got when they first came to Jesus. They’ve lived at that surface level Christianity ever since then as though that’s all there is. But, sisters and brothers, your initial salvation is just the foyer to the mansion that Jesus paid for and put in your name. Explore the rest of the house. It’s too vast to plumb all its depths in this life, but try anyway! And…
“If on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.”
This is the 8th of 10ish posts on How Mature Christians Act. Scroll down for earlier posts on this passage.
Pre-christians see right through the shallow spirituality that they see in many so-called Christians and don’t want any part of it. If not for your own sake, for the sake of your friends and neighbors, I adjure you to go deeper in Jesus. Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends is my recently published book on sharing a credible and relevant faith with others. Check it out.
barney wiget 