Threshing Floor Tabernacle

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death…” (Phi 3:10)

Jesus said that eternal life is to know Him and the Father, the ONLY TRUE GOD – it’s what eternal life is about. To know God is to love Him; and to love Him is to keep His commandments. This is the Journey of Pursuit – seeking His face and becoming intimately acquainted with the Lover of our soul. In some countries and places it is a difficult challenge because to identify with Christ Jesus could lead to instant death or imprisonment.

In other places it is a challenge because the mind and heart are filled with so many other cares and desires that the pursuit of knowing Him is abandoned. Jesus taught about the parable of the seed sower (one that we should never forget) which helps to explain why there is a lack of pursuit in knowing Him.

For Paul, it required losing everything. For the rich young ruler, it required selling everything and giving to the poor. What does it require of you? To lose all, sell all, give all, or forsake all for the sake of pursuing Jesus may cause many to choke, stumble, or become sorrowful, but for the Believer in Christ it is called “abandonment” – the cost of discipleship. You don’t look at what you lose; you look to the One you gain.

This is the meat of the Gospel that many cannot handle and it is the very reason many turn away and follow no more. Nevertheless it is the path of the righteous (not our own righteousness but His righteousness) that gets brighter and brighter as the noon day. You discover that it’s not simply wealth, things, or people you forsake; it is YOU that you forsake. Jesus said it this way, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). You abandon you for Jesus.

This is not where fear and sorrow should settle in; this is where faith, courage, and confidence should arise. You gain Jesus – and when you have Jesus, you have everything! The same Jesus who said give up everything for His sake and the Gospel also said, “But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:30).

Jesus givesus all things richly to enjoy but never to REPLACE HIM in our lives (Selah). This is the Journey of Pursuit and it is worth more than anything in life. We serve an AWESOME Savior and the life He gives us is so worth the risks it entails. “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ…” (Phi 3:8)