THE FELLOWSHIP

 

I awoke at 3 a.m. this morning because of the painful state of my body and a scripture of Apostle Paul came into my mind that speaks of the ‘fellowship of His sufferings’ (Philippians 3:20). This led me to recount all the lessons I have learnt since my experience with pain and how I am gaining a glimpse into the soul of Him who descended into the pit of human agony and suffered the effects of every infirmity known to man.

I turned to Philippians 3 and read the whole chapter. In my opinion this has always been one of the most important chapters in the New Testament and this is why:

Philippians 3:4-6: “If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.”  Paul, who was the cream of the Jewish society, of the tribe of Benjamin, a “Hebrew of all Hebrews” as he called himself, and a stout Pharisee had a firm foundation in his life. He was sitting pretty. The Jewish law considered him blameless of all the misery he caused to humanity as he persecuted the Church, and by doing so he rose in Jewish estimation. He was climbing the ladder of respect and leadership. But something significant happened to Paul.

Philippians 3:7-10: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ….for whom I have suffered the loss of ALL things, do count them but dung that I may win Christ….that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings…..”

Paul’s spiritual awakening brought the realisation that all things he lost in the worldly sense were nothing compared to the excellent knowledge of Christ that he gained. All else became as nothing compared to knowing the Saviour. This knowledge became embedded in his heart through the suffering he himself went through for the sake of the God that he persecuted.

Paul lost ALL, as he said: his social and religious standing, his Jewish family, his safety and security… but in reality he gained everything. Imagine the isolation and the severing of all he knew up to the time of his conversion. Volumes could be written about Paul and his life, the change in his soul, and his relationship with the God he found and served until his death.

Following his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was without sight fasting for 3 days, exacting the change of his heart that repentance brings. Think about the significance of 3 days…..Paul was also 33 when this happened. Think about that too. When the Lord said to Ananias to go find Paul that he might rise to his calling, this was His reasoning:

“For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” And suffer he did: he was scourged and persecuted by the Jews, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked during which he suffered hunger and nakedness, imprisoned three times by the Romans and killed by them in Rome at the age of 68 (Acts 14:19; 17:5-10,13,14; 2 Corinthians 11:24-27). I rather think ‘the excellency of the knowledge of Christ’ was born out of ‘the fellowship of His sufferings’…..

Now that I have experienced a minute portion of human suffering, I cannot but help feel the kinship with Christ who has suffered it ALL and understand a bit deeper who He really is.  If we have achieved nothing else in this life but this understanding, we have arrived because NOTHING else matters. Knowing Christ makes us love Christ and loving Christ makes us follow Christ….all the way to eternal glory.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Designed by UpliftYour Feed)