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The same thought of suffering and sacrifice occurs in the first letter to the Corinthians,
"Know ye not that they which run in a race all, but one receiveth the prize? So run,
that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run,
not as uncertainty; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body,
and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I
myself should be a castaway" (I Cor. 9: 24-27).
If `they' are prepared to make sacrifices for a mere laurel wreath which will soon fade
and fall, how much more incentive have we for a `crown' which will last eternally?
Closely associated with the thought of `yielding' sacrificially is that of
`sanctification', of separation to God so that the whole life is lived `unto the Lord'
(Colossians 3: 23), a combined thought which has recurred frequently in our studies of
this subject.
The believer is one who has `received the adoption', the placing as a son. God
receives him as `My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased'. He is accounted by God
as spiritually mature and should therefore live maturely, live a Christ-like life. But how
can we live like Christ unless we know Him? Clearly the better we know Him the more
like Him shall we live. Hence the importance of `getting to know Him', the value of such
knowledge being so great to Paul that he counted no sacrifice too great to increase it
(Phil. 3: 7-11, and note the association of `resurrection' with the `fellowship of His
sufferings'). Dare any of us compare favourably our knowledge of Christ with that of
Paul? Paul had found that the more knowledge of Christ he had, the greater was his
desire to know Him even better--a desire which for Paul, or any of us, can only be
fulfilled when "we see Him as He is".
As we put into practice what we know of the Will of God for us seeking to be well
pleasing to the Lord, we come to know Him better, and are the better equipped to know
more of His Will for us. Particularly in the more personal aspects of this matter, in those
circumstances which are uniquely our own, His Will becomes the plainer the better we
know Him. In the wider spheres of everyday life, as we have seen from both the epistle
to the Ephesians and that to the Colossians, it is simply a matter of living an ordinary,
everyday life, but with a motive very different from that of the `man in the street', with
the object of being `well pleasing unto the Lord'.
To know the Will of God for me, in my own particular circumstances, is not at all
easy. Most of us will have seen at some time or another a `Darby and Joan'; an old
couple who have live closely together for many years, they have probably known a
`fellowship of suffering' in the course of their life together, they have shared their joys
and their sorrows, and now they not only think alike, but (often) even look alike. Such a
couple present a parable for all who seriously would know the Will of God; live closely
with the Lord and as your knowledge of Him increases you will increasingly think `like'
Him, and in deeds be `like' Him.