Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Phillipians 3:7-11
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
~
This passage has really made me stop and evaluate my own relationship with Christ. I had just read on somebodies blog the other day that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. As God usually does, he again brings more conviction on that same note, to re-evaluate where I am at. Do I really know God as an intimate friend? Am I putting my effort into religion, or the relationship? Do I really consider everything else a loss compared to knowing Him? Do I really want to know the fellowship of sharing in His suffering, becoming like Him in death? How do those things play out in my life? Then those little whispers sneak in, saying, what does it really matter?What does it really matter? I guess only because it was the God of the universe who designed it to be this way. Only because it is eternity on the line. Only because one day it is God I will stand before to give account to. Paul clearly points out, here and throughout Philippians, that it is through Christ that we are made righteous for this salvation. What a concept that all this is really rubbish, when compared to gaining Christ. Off to my day, and trying to realize fully what this all means.
