God Expresses His Love Through Acts of Power

 In Philippians 3:10, the Apostle Paul says that He wants to “know Christ, and the power that flows out of His resurrection.” The phrase “to know” in our English Bibles, is translated from the Greek word ginosko. With this word, Paul is saying that he wants to enjoy the deepest level of intimacy possible with Christ. Paul does not just want to know about Jesus, but interact with Jesus in a loving relationship.  We know that the core of God’s nature is a selfless love that is poured out to everyone that will receive it. God loves to love and be loved–God is love.

But Paul says that he not only wants to know Christ, but also wants to know, be intimate and interact personally with, the power that comes from Christ in His resurrection (the Amplified Bible says here that he wants “in the very same way” that he knows Christ, to know the power of the resurrection).

It is an odd thing in modern Western Christian culture, that the two ideas of knowing Jesus, and knowing His power, have somehow become separated. Many Christians give themselves whole-heartedly to their salvation in terms of loving God, reading their Bibles, and following Christ in moral values, but want nothing to do with the Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible and empowers us to live a moral life. But in the early church, Christ, His love for people, and acts of power that manifest that love, all went hand in hand.

Had you told the woman with the issue of blood that she should just accept Jesus as her savior, but not bother Him for healing, I think she would have thought you were nuts. Do you think that the blind, the lame, the demon possessed people that Jesus healed understood that God loved them more prior to their being healed or after? God’s love for people is often manifested in some dramatic way that serves to cut through a person’s religious or secular, arguments against Him. God healing a sick person can do more to communicate His love, and drive both fear and shame out of their hearts, than anything else.

I read an article recently in which several foreign missionaries were being interviewed. Every one of them said that they had yet to see a person from a non-Christian culture accept Christ on the basis of western apologetics, (a reasoned argument for the truth of the Bible) but they had seen multitudes of people accept Christ after being healed or delivered from demonic activity. In other words, trying to convince them of our doctrine through logical arguments was a total failure until God showed up in power. Then they were ready to listen to the gospel message, which pointed them to a Christ that they already knew was real and alive.

They were all quick to say that they value the Bible highly, but Christianity is simply not just about doctrine, it is about knowing the Living God. Since we Christians were commissioned to reach the world as Christ’s witnesses, and since we were empowered with the Holy Spirit for the purpose of carrying out that mission, we should expect the power of God and the Word of God to work together just as they did in the Book of Acts.

Our role on earth is not just to carry a message about Christ, but to actually carry Christ. Spiritual growth is much more than simply learning more doctrine or experiencing greater self-control. It is the process whereby the Christian learns to steward the presence of God so that he can release Jesus to hurting people in everyday life. A growing awareness of the presence of God upon us, and a growing sensitivity to what He wants to do for people around us, should be the focus of our lives.