ANOTHER PASSAGE WHICH teaches us that the redemptive purpose of God in Christ is to produce creative personalities is this one: “I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own” (Phil. 3:12). I make it my own because He has made me his own—“it my own . . . me His own.” I master the “it,” because He masters the “me.” The “it” here was “attain the resurrection from the dead” (v. 11)—to have the final victory over the final enemy, death. I master the it—the worst it, because I am mastered by the best Him. His mastery makes me masterful.
All the its of life belong to me, provided I belong to Him. I master the world around me, provided Jesus Christ masters the world within me. I am master because I am slave—slave to the rightful Master. I lose my life and I find it—lose it in utter subjection to Him and find it when everything is in utter subjection to me. Paul puts it in these words: “All belongs to you; Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present and the future—all belongs to you; and you belong to Christ, and Christ to God” (1 Cor. 3:21–22 Moffatt). Here all things belong to you because “you belong to Christ.” The “all” means all things—all great teachers—“Paul, Apollos, Cephas”; all great facts—“the world, life, death”; all time—“the present and the future.” To be sure nothing is left out, Paul sweeps his hands wide and says: “all belongs to you.” You master everything in the world because Jesus Christ masters everything in you. The inner world masters the outer world. “Heal me at the heart and let the world come on.”
So the purpose of this inner possession by Christ is to make us outer possessors of all things. He masters us to free us—free us creatively upon all things. We are being made into the image of the creative God.
O Jesus, my Redeemer, I see also in Thee that Thou art not merely redeeming me from —Thou art redeeming me to. Thou art redeeming me to creativity. When Thou art within me, my touch upon life is creative—just like Thine. I am awed. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: He has made me His own—the center; I will make it my own—the circumference.
