“I want to know Christ…” (Philippians 3:10)

If you’re reading this post, I suspect that you can identify with that statement in the same way I can. We’d like to understand more completely the ways that Jesus is at work in our lives and in the world around us. We’d like to experience more of the peace and the power that He promised. We’d like to be transformed in ways that make us more like Him.

But are we prepared to walk the path along with such knowledge is gained? Paul continues, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

As I shared with my congregation yesterday, Jesus reveals through His passion that the heart of His Father beats with sacrificial love. And if we want to know Him, it will mean conforming our own hearts and lives to this same loving rhythm. It will mean giving, and serving, and pouring ourselves out for the sake of others. It will mean walking with Jesus – not just through the “triumphal entry” of Palm Sunday and the “empty tomb” of Easter Sunday – but also through the love-borne pain and heartache that fill the week between.

What are some of the ways that you will seek to “know Christ” in this Holy Week? I’d love for you to share your plans so that we can all be encouraged.

May we all come to know Christ better in the days ahead. And may we discover that His power is made perfect in weakness – and that the darkness of suffering love leads in the end to the light of resurrection life.