I bet there are some things, and with more probability, people you’re willing to do anything for. Is there something in your life you are willing to spend all you’ve got on? I knew a family that completely bankrupted themselves taking care of their cancer stricken daughter. When the little girl passed, the father was asked, ‘was it worth it, i mean, she died anyway’. His response was simple and direct— ‘yes’. Are there some people or things you’re wiling to spend yourself on? Of course there is. There are people who will read this and admit they spend themselves on all kind of things. I don’t mean your money, I mean yourself. Putting oneself ‘out’ as it were, for some one or some thing else.
The Apostle Paul was a servant to the core. He gave and gave and gave of himself to the ministry of Jesus. The cause of Christ was personal to him. Jesus was personal to him. Church was personal to him. It was his main motivation.
We read in Ephesians 3.14-19— “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
When Paul begins this passage with, “For this cause”, he is referring to his undying devotion and personal affection for Jesus. This wasn’t just a Sunday morning thing… this was a cause worth living and dying for. He was infected by the reality of Jesus and His soon return. He believed, I mean down to his marrow, that the first face he saw when he breathed his last breath is Jesus. He was going to have to give an account of his life. Did he live every day with this focus? Or, did he squander it with frivolous pursuits? He expressed his answer here in this text. He was charged by God to be concerned for this church (Ephesus), out of his focused cause for Jesus. He had a ‘why’ to his devotion to this church. Oh, if only just a handful of people in every church had that fire… everything would change!
Do you find it true that we are most devoted to the things that take up the greatest real-estate in our hearts? So what is that? Is it what God wants to occupy your mind and heart?
Paul is explicitly clear here… only by God’s strength will anything matter or last. We will burn out and blame as we go down. He was warning them, and us. It’s time to stop trusting performance and start trusting His promises. The answer is not a calculated step-by-step plan. The answer is to do what Paul does and get on our knees. Prayer is essential. It is our moments of weakness He is strong on our behalf. This cause is too big and the stakes too hight for us to trust anything else, especially our own selves. The apostle saw the Savior not only as his motivation and cause, but as the source of true strength.
I am to be broken and undone before my great Creator. I am to bring everything I am before God. I am nothing without Him. Can you say that? Is He your main motivation? Are you lost without Him in a tangible sense? Or, can you go a few days without the word and dedicated times of conversation with Him? It’s mind blowing as it is that God would allow us access to Himself. He wants that relationship to deepen into closer and closer intimacy. He desires me? Can you believe it?!
It makes sense when you realize He gave Himself so that I could know Him in the first place. Truly, we are spiritual beggars. Why resist? Why go it on your own on your own way? Why trust in human ability and intellect? It is futile. I want more Jesus and a lot less me. The place of greatest blessing is right by the Lord. What would you want to sit down anywhere else?
He is our cause. It is the cause of Jesus Christ. No more personal crusades for me. I want Him, and nothing more will satisfy. What about you?