“…I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that Day.” 2 Timothy 1:12
When the Lord Jesus Christ calls an individual to follow Him, it is more of a commitment of God to that person than the person’s commitment to Christ. Why? It is because of the origin of the calling, and the means provided by God in Christ, for its fulfilment. When God calls, He enables. There is nothing in His calling that He is not willing to accomplish in the heart and life of the individual so that the race can be run and the victory won. In that solemn moment when, after turning to Christ in one’s helpless, lost state, and the cry of the heart rises to the throne of the Creator and Redeemer, a miracle takes place. To Nicodemus, the Lord Jesus would declare that a personal, individual act of God by the Holy Spirit, unseen with the eyes, but known by the results, would occur. Jesus would call it the new birth. At that moment, even second, a new creation in Christ is born by the Spirit, and a blessed union is formed whereby the believer becomes one with Christ, and Christ becomes one with him. From that moment, all that is IN Christ belongs to the believer, having been made complete in Christ. Christ would become the life, the purpose, and the very means of glorifying God in and through one’s existence. As one lives by the Spirit, so will there be the walk by the Spirit, abiding IN Christ, deriving all from Him by that inward act of faith. But how does this become real in the life, the daily walk which begins with awakening from one’s sleep to face the challenges of the day, moment by moment? How does one live this Life by the power of the Spirit for the glory of God?
When the Apostle Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, as recorded in the Bible, he spoke of a commitment that he had made to Christ. This commitment began by a declaration of faith in Christ. Paul wrote: “For I KNOW whom I have believed.” Everything about this commitment was based on Paul’s personal knowledge of WHO Christ was, and WHAT was demanded of him by Christ. In knowing Christ, not only according to the great, eternal, life-changing truths of God in Christ, there was the experimental knowledge. Faith in Christ was not just an accumulation of truths, but the very “living by the faith of the Son of God,” being filled with the Spirit, the knowledge of His will, living by His strength and power. The love of Christ Himself moved Paul, stirred him up, motivated him, to ever pursuit Christ’s objective in bringing the Apostle to Himself. Paul would speak of being apprehended by Christ, having been laid hold of by the Eternal Lord and Savior for a blessed, divine purpose. The Apostle Paul was determined to know that purpose, and its fulfilment. Charles Wesley in one of his great hymns summarized it like this: “Called the FULL STRENGTH of trust to prove, let all my quickened heart be love, Thy spotless Life be praise.”
With the knowledge of Christ’s person and His power, there came a resolved conviction. This conviction was based upon the absolute faithfulness of God in Christ, to accept the commitment of Paul to believe and follow Him. It was the certainty that God was and is faithful to fulfill His perfect will, and to accomplish His blessed, eternal work, in the heart, “…until that Day.” When Paul understood this commitment to Christ, he saw that it meant the surrender and commitment of all that pertained to his existence, to BE Christ’s, and to LIVE by and for Him. He knew that just as Christ was faithful to meet him moment by moment on earth, that He would also securely KEEP that which the Apostle had committed to Him for time and eternity.
Dear Father, Fill us with Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.