Let Me Never Out Live My Love To Thee

September 15, 2015

Let Me Never Out Live My Love To Thee

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.

Philippians 3:8-9a

The sin of attachments: how do I regard me? One of my heroes in the faith, Bernard of Clairvaux, is said to have written, “Lord, let me never, never out live my love to Thee!” Amen and amen. Bernard was echoing the thoughts of Saint Paul, as have many in the unseen cloud of witnesses that surrounds us, including Isaac Watts:

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast

save in the death of Christ, my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them through his blood.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Verse Two

 Isaac Watts

I conclude this brief series on the sin of attachments focusing on that which may constitute my greatest temptation, that of thinking more of myself than I do of Christ in me. As an example, the other day I concocted this plan whereby at a date about eighteen months in the future I would be disengaged from all commitments outside of home and family. Cheryl was kind not to laugh; she just chuckled and changed the subject. The Lord’s response? Was that thunder, or heavenly laughter I heard?

At the moment my life is full, and I do have many responsibilities. However, the Lord’s judgment of my retirement years is not going to be on the basis of how busy I am, but on how closely I sought his counsel and leadership in my life. I love the way the NLT renders Paul’s thought:  For his sake I have discarded everything so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. Becoming one with Christ, that is my ambition. The realization of my ambition is dependent on how willing I am to count everything else as worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord!

Let there be no doubt, this is a difficult road to travel, which is why Paul was so graphic in describing the choice he made:  

My old self has been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

It has taken me decades to truly grasp the truth that I cannot tame my old self. There is but one alterative, and that is to co-crucify my old self with Christ, that Christ may live in me. And, as Paul’s letter to the Philippians so clearly demonstrates, my co-crucifixion with Christ is not a one-off experience; it is necessary to reaffirm this desire each and every day if I am to never, never out live my love for Christ.  

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.