I am a Jesus pusher!!! “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). What does this mean? Paul said, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:7-9). Does this not sound like the Beatitudes ending on a note of persecution? God uses the platform of persecution to display “this treasure in earth vessels.” The Kingdom of Heaven influences my world through the persecution. My helplessness is filled with His all-surpassing resource creating the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven loses its life in the world of persecution. A self-centered, self-focused, self-sourcing world pounds its own chest, demands its own rights, and exerts its own desires. We live the cross style in the midst of such a world; we are “salt.” We bring authenticity to life; the tasteless world of drab existence sees what it is to live.
Paul said the secret to such a display is, “Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you” (2 Corinthians 4:10-12). What makes us “salt” causes us to be “salt.” In a world of persecution, driven by self-centered, self-sourced people, we live the dying of Jesus. We refuse to live out of ourselves; we will not respond from our rights; we cannot react out of our needs. Jesus must be seen in us. I am a Jesus pusher!!!