It is the practical experience of the apostle Paul’s heart in connection with Christ that is so marked in verse 20. The heart of a believer attentive to the Spirit’s teaching must feel that one cannot read this verse without seeing that Paul had a practical connection with the Nazarene in heaven, that he believed in a Christ who was not in heaven only, but in his own soul, so that he could think of nothing but this Christ. That which would not be joy to the heart of Christ, he as a believer in Christ could not joy in; and that which had Christ for its object could not do otherwise than turn to his salvation, through prayer and the supply of the Spirit. His only thought in everything was that Christ should be magnified in his body, whether by life or death (verse 20). This occupied his whole heart; and you and I may realize it as much as he did.

Can you and I say that we have only one simple desire; that is, that through us Christ should be magnified? To magnify anything is to make it appear larger than it is; that could not be so in connection with Christ. But Paul wanted all to shine out in him, so that Christ should be magnified through him_so shine out that all should be able to say, "What a marvelous thing! there is a man so spending his life for Christ that he does not care to live if he can but magnify Christ by his death! What a marvelous Person that Christ must be!"

Paul had the expectation that through him Christ should be glorified now in the wilderness, that now Christ should be magnified. The love of Christ constrained him, drew him along in the path after Christ. Oh, what manifestation of Christ it is when the display of His handiwork is seen in a Saul of Tarsus, the oil of anointing so flowing down to the servant that it could be said of that servant, "Like Master, like servant!" What a blessed servant this servant of Christ is in a dungeon, not knowing whether he was to live or die, occupied only with the one thought of glorifying Christ there, of being a fellow helper with Him down here! Whether his feet are in fetters or not, he could say, "It is Christ I have for my portion in this dungeon; and whether I am here for life or death, it is my earnest expectation and hope that Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death."

To what extent have we become fellow workers with Paul? To what degree are we maintaining our Nazariteship and living out Christ so that, whatever our circumstances, the power of the life of Christ in us may be seen as in Paul? How far is seen in us, from day to day, the mind of Christ? The same mind that led Him down, even to the death of the cross, is the mind that we ought to have. We are to let the power of the grace that found us, and gave us life, tell its own tale by the manifestation of that life in all our circumstances in our wilderness path.