Is Christ Being Magnified?

Philippians 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

The phrase, "so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body" leaped out of the scripture at me this morning.   To magnify something is to draw attention to, to enlarge, or intensify. Oh that Christ would be magnified in our lives.  Who is drawing more attention, us or Christ?

I want to point out that it was Paul's choice for Christ to be magnified.  He made the choice to not be ashamed to be known as a Christian everywhere he went.  As a matter of fact, he was bold about it, he didn't wait to be asked by people, he just told them. His choices were on purpose and his purpose was that Christ would be magnified in his life.  He even lived in a time that making those choices and taking such bold stands meant that he could face death just for doing them.  Ultimately that is what happened to him, he was put to death for his bold, unashamed stand that magnified Christ. And, yet he still made those choices while knowing what the consequences were.

Why are so many of us afraid to make the choice for Christ to magnified in our lives?  Are we afraid that we will be put to death? I don't think so. Are we afraid of rejection? It will happen.  Are we afraid that someone will make fun of us? So what, people will always find something to make fun of us for. Is Christ being magnified not worth that? Are we afraid that we will miss out on something that we want to do or be? Whatever our reasons, they probably aren't good enough to justify our choices. 

I made the statement the other day that I was becoming disenchanted with the status quo of life.  I truly want to see God do something in and through my life.  But I must ask myself a question. Am I willing to put aside the status quo and be bold?  Am I willing to be unashamed?  Do I want Christ to be magnified in my life whatever the cost may be?  I want Christ to be bigger in my life.  I want Him to magnified.  To God be the glory.

Do you Believe God?

Romans 5:19-25 "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."

Someone once said, "A weak faith is weakened by predicaments and catastrophes, whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them."  That was certainly the case in the life of Abraham.  In Genesis 15 God told Abraham that his descendents would be greater than the number of stars in the sky.  This was at a time when Abraham was up in years, his wife was getting older and passed the child bearing years, and they didn't have any children whatsoever.  Yet Abraham believed what God said.  Just as Abraham believed, God came through on His promise.

What do you believe today?  Have you been let down by so many people, that you have let that affect your faith in God?  It is against our sinful human nature to trust or believe.  Think about it, Eve trusted the seperent, Adam trusted Eve, and what did that get them?  That's right, sin.  And it's been passed on to everyone ever since.  Who was the first one that Adam and Eve stopped trusting?  It was God.  Satan knew that if he could stop man from believing God that he would have an advantage.

The lie of Satan has not changed since the garden of Eden.  The thought of "trust no one" is continuing to perperptrate our thinking today.  It is amazing to me that while we are supposed to be trusting no one we are actually still trusting someone - ourselves and the system that says "trust no one. "Trust no one but youself, you'll be fine." "You are the only one who truly knows what you need and want."  "Watch out for number one, and number one is yourself."  These are all lies that we buy into and believe.  The main problem with trusting yourself is that you are a liar.  Sorry, if that insults you, but hey, I'm a liar too. (Does that help any?)  Yes, we lie to ourselves all the time - we cannot be trusted, even when it come to our own best interests.

So what are we to do?  If we can't believe ourselves who can we believe?  We can believe God. We can believe His Word.  Abraham believed God, and look how that turned out for him - God did what He promised.  And once he believed Him, he didn't stagger, he didnt waiver, he kept on believing that God would do what he said.  We not only need to believe God, but we need to continue to believe God.

Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must BELIEVE that He IS, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Stop believing the lie of the world and Satan, and start believing God. There are greater rewards for believing God, and none for believe a lie. Trust Him, it's well worth it.  Don't stagger through life in unbelief.  Keep your faith strong. Give God the glory that He deserves.  Do you believe God? 

Why God derserves the Glory and not you

Galatians 1:3-5 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen

In the New Testament alone there is over 120 verses that draw us to the fact that God is to be given glory.  The more I study the Bible, the more I see this theme of God being given glory.  It is there over and over again.  Not only is it there multiple times, when it is there, the context of the scriptures surrounding the verses on glory point to the glory also.

Now in order to bring glory to God, we must first have an understanding of what "glory" is.  Glory is something that brings or is worthy of exaltation, praise, adoration, worship, thanksgiving, or honour.  As you consider what glory is, as given above.  We must come to the conclusion that when you take that list as a whole, God is the only one who is worthy of glory.  One may be able to take one aspect of glory and attribute it to someone or something else, but again when taken in its completion - God is the only one that deserves all glory.

How is your life bringing glory to God?  If we are going give God the glory that He deserves for our lives we must be able to say along with the Apostle Paul, "And they glorified God in me."  That means that the evidence of what is happening in our lives must always point to God moving and working in and throughout our lives.  When things don't go the way I expect them to go, I have a habit of immediately trying to figure out how I'm going fix them. The problem with that is, when we begin "fixing" the situations that need fixing, we more times than not, try to take the glory for ourselves. The fact is though, we can't fix anything all on our own.  The wisdom that we may have, the knowledge that we may have, the skills that we may have - all come from God.  So if we use any of those things or any other things - it is God who deserves the glory and not ourselves. If we will learn to change our perception about ourselves,  we can start allowing our lives to bring the glory back to God where it belongs. 

Do you want more out of life?

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon bears open the agony of his heart.  In the 17th verse of chapter 2, he says, "Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit."  Early on in chapter 2 he tells the reader that he has had basically anything that he has ever wanted in life, and has found himself always coming up empty.

Are you tired of coming up empty in your life?  Are you tired of trying new things, only to find a temporary happiness before you are empty once again?  Are you tired of putting all your strength and energy into your life only to find out that you have fallen short once again? If your tired of these things and more - you are not alone. I am glad to tell you that there is hope!  The hope rests in the same place that Solomon found his hope.

Listen, your life doesn't have to be empty and barren. God wants you to have a fruitful life that is full of His joy.  What is the answer?  According to Solomon's conclusion, the answer is to fear God and keep His commandments.  Yes, it's that simple! And yet we struggle with that every day. I am convinced that the reason we struggle is not because we can't fear God. It's not even because we can't keep His commandments.  The reason we struggle with Solomon's conclusion is because we love ourselves more than God. We fear being unhappy in our lives more than we fear Him. Then we choose our own desires rather than keeping His commandments. All of which leads us to the same empty place that Solomon was in - hating our lives.

Do you want a better life? Solomon sure did.  He tried everything under the sun to find fulfillment in his life.  He found it the same place you will find it - by fearing God and keeping His word.  Do you hate your life? Do you want more out of it?  You can find it with God! Get in His word everyday and find out what great things He has in store for your life.