"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death."
Both Christ and self cannot be equally conspicuous in my life. Either Christ must be magnified or self will be magnified.
No argument is needed to prove that men and nations, individuals and society, are tortured with inordinate desires to magnify self. In fact, human pride extends so far that it is impossible for others not to trample upon it at times. And when they do, we are resentful and peeved.
Not until Jesus came did there appear among men One who by nature preferred his Father's will to his own, who preferred others' pleasure to His own. For "Christ pleased not Himself."
Jesus seemed utterly unconcerned about His own pleasure, convenience, safety. The praise or hate of men never betrayed Him into heady arrogance or into sinking defeat. With an even step Christ traveled over life's uneven road with one purpose--to magnify His Father.
Paul determined to have a life like Christ's. He purposed to so live that Christ would be conspicuous, his own desires and preferences either submerged or crucified. He knew that release from pride is great rest, and that likeness to Christ is great reward.
When Christ is magnified, then nothing else matters--to the crucified soul. Come life or death, poverty or wealth, honor or dishonor, activity or retirement, there is neither personal exultation or personal irritation. It is enough that Christ is all in all.
What a searching question to ask myself--When others think of me do they think of me first or of Christ in me? Which one is really magnified?
By George E. Failing
1959
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