THE REFUGE
Blessed be the God of heaven, who sent His Son to die for us, so that we might behold the beauty of the cross and recognize the depravity of our own hearts. When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, one of his great concerns was that believers cast aside the pride that so easily rises within the human heart. Such pride seeks to take glory that belongs to Christ alone and turn our affections toward earthly accomplishments, desires, and pleasures. By the grace of God and through the work of His Spirit, we are called to discipline our lives and submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Paul, using his own life as an example, had great reason from a human standpoint to place confidence in the flesh. In his letter to the Philippians he wrote, “Circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” Yet Paul continued, “Whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
The Scriptures also reveal that Paul encountered the risen Jesus Christ. He heard the Lord call to him, saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Paul was later given extraordinary revelations, writing that he knew a man in Christ who was “caught up to the third heaven” and “caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.” Yet these remarkable privileges were not given so that Paul might exalt himself. Paul tells us that because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, “there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself.” God sovereignly used this painful affliction to keep His servant humble and dependent upon divine grace.
Three times Paul pleaded with the Lord that the thorn might leave him, but Christ answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Paul therefore learned something greater than deliverance from the thorn, he learned that the power of Jesus Christ was displayed through his weakness. Paul answered, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” Paul could therefore boast in his weakness because his weakness magnified the sufficiency of Christ, and beyond all human accomplishments he could say, “May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This did not lead Paul to passivity. Grace produced discipline. He wrote, “I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” Paul understood that salvation is entirely of grace, yet the grace that saves us also teaches us to live faithfully before the Lord. It teaches us that a fierce war against sin rages within us, and that we must not present the members of our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness, but rather submit ourselves to God and our members as instruments of righteousness.
Saints of God, where then is our boasting? Our confidence rests in Jesus Christ, “Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed where we have failed. He fulfilled every righteous demand of God’s law. He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Then, upon the cross, He bore the judgment deserved by His people, and on the third day He rose victorious from the grave.
Therefore, let us lay aside confidence in our accomplishments, abandon the false security of human wisdom, and reject everything that would lead us toward self-glory. Scripture says, “Each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.” Our salvation rests upon Christ alone, while our works give evidence of the authenticity of genuine faith. As James writes, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
Let the words of Jeremiah resonate within our hearts: “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me.” To know the one true and living God through His Son, Jesus Christ, is the greatest treasure any individual could ever possess upon the face of this earth. May all our boasting be in the Lord.