“By Any Means”

“By Any Means”

“...that I may know [Jesus] and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection...I press on...” [Phl 3:8-14 NKJV]

“By any means” is a phrase of desperation. (No one ever says “by any means” if they have a viable plan B.)

“By any means” tells me to throw caution to the wind; to go for broke; to do or die.

“By any means” tells me that my objective is more valuable than my life.

“By any means” tasks are only carried out by those who are all in.

This verse was written by a guy named Paul who had a lot going for him. He was well educated. He had connections. He was smart. He had passion and drive. Yet, Paul is throwing all of those things overboard like excess baggage on a sinking ship.

Why do such a thing? Paul ditched his own glory that he might be “conformed to [Jesus’] death”. The word translated “conformed” in our English Bibles means “assimilation”.  Now this is not some spooky Star-Trek borg-ish “resistance is futile...you will be assimilated” assimilation. This is a desire on the part of a believer to become indistinguishable from his Savior in both death and Life.

Jesus’ death was totally voluntary.

His life was not taken. It was given.

His blood was not spilled. It was poured out.

Paul understood this, and he too is voluntarily surrendering his very will, his very life, conforming himself to Jesus’ death, considering himself already dead to this world.

Paul is just following Jesus’ example...

So that “by any means” he could “know [Jesus] and the power of His resurrection,” he explains.

It’s a brutal truth, but it is truth: The more we live in the power of this world, the less we live in the power of Jesus’ resurrection.

Even the great Apostle Paul did not claim to have reached the great and difficult goal of self surrender. He did, however, understand the importance of dying to self and was “pressing toward the goal”. His admonishment to the Christians of his day rings true for us as well:

“...forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind…”  

Ultimately, Paul did lay his life down for the sake of the Gospel and will someday rise in the  glorifying power of the Resurrection to stand among the redeemed in the presence of the Savior.

May it be so with all those who name the name of Jesus Christ.