Nothing can compare than to know Christ

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. Philippians 3:7-10

All of us, at some level, have some picture in our minds of an ideal future. There is a life that we've always wanted. For some of us, the specifics on that life are a little fuzzy. For others, those dreams are really specific: anything from not knowing what career you want-just knowing you want a career, up to knowing the exact job you'd like to have. This picture of an ideal future extends to family and lifestyle as well. But on whatever level it's developed, this "Life we've always wanted," these dreams for the future, drive us and orient our lives in a particular direction. Take a moment right now and call to mind the picture you see when you think of the future... have you ever talked with God about this picture? This is what Paul is addressing in our text; whether the life we've always wanted is the life that God wants for us. He pursued what the world pursed in life yet came out empty. All the accomplishments were loss or rubbish compared to gaining and knowing Christ. He changed completely and his goal was to know Christ more. He was certain that the kind of life that would bring him the greatest reward was one lived in an unhindered pursuit of knowing Jesus. He envisions this unhindered pursuit of knowing Christ expressed in his closeness with Christ where his life colliding with the life of Christ. The way to experience Jesus more fully, is not through thinking correctly about him, or feeling warm and fuzzy about him, but through a dynamic and living faith. It is what intimate relationship with Jesus means. It is a life that interacts with the very power that raised Jesus form the dead. It is associated with fellowshipping with Jesus in times of suffering. It allows itself to take on and identify with Jesus' humiliation and death. If we believe the way Paul believed, then we can live into what salvation in Christ means. No longer distracted from God and getting caught up in the mundane things of everyday life, but living life to the fullest. This is how God wants us to unleash the full measure His love and grace in our lives. There is no life more satisfying, fulfilling, or exciting as one that is totally and completely pursuing to know Christ more intimately.

Blessings,

Noel De Guzman

www.my-wbc.com