Passion to know Christ
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death. Philippians 3:8-11
When the apostle Paul said that everything he counted as his assets were worthless, it does not mean that they were bad but to the contrary. He found them repugnant or rubbish because they kept him from knowing Christ more in his life. Paul did not look back with regret nor there was hidden longing. This was because of his yearning for the future where his gain of being in Christ will be fully realized. “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better” (Philippians 1:21). His outlook in life had changed drastically because his righteousness was not based on his own accomplishments but by placing his life through faith in Christ Jesus. There is nothing we could do to earn our own righteousness but by believing Christ. In His faithfulness, He provided us a way to be right with God and it is dependent on placing our faith in Him alone. “He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). This is what saving faith is all about; it is abandoning of all the things that we would count on relying to our own merit but instead trusting on the faithfulness of God. Paul’s credentials were impeccable. His accomplishments were unquestionable. But when he encountered the Lord Jesus Christ, all those achievements were nothing compared to having Christ in his life. Our only hope should be found in Christ alone. This hope should be manifested in our passion to “know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.” Right living is centered in Christ and the worth we place in His death on the cross. The desire to know Christ more will propel us to take the gospel to others and to the ends of the earth. May we emulate Paul’s longing to continue to grow in our faith until we fully manifest Christ in our life. Let Paul’s prayer be our prayer: “I want to know you, Lord, to really know you.”
Blessings,
Noel De Guzman www.my-wbc.com
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