Philippians 3:4-8
4 If others think they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more; 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him….
Reflections:
As Paul wrote these now well-known words, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things,” he let his readers know that he did have things to lose, to give up, to consider garbage. In the sphere of life that mattered to Paul, he had much. He had the right lineage, the right upbringing, the right education, and the right credentials in the Jewish religious world. But when Paul met Jesus, everything changed. All these things, which were once so important, were no longer as important as knowing Jesus. It became Paul’s desire to be found in Him, more than to be found anywhere else, even in the highest places of his culture and religion.
We met Jesus in the midst of our great, great need for a savior. We know this to be true. Yet if we were to look at our lives from an outside perspective, there were some things that each of us felt we had “together.”
The mark of a maturing follower of Christ is that we, by the Spirit, are found in and return again and again to this place where we can say to Jesus, “Those things don’t matter compared to knowing You.”
Responding to the Transmission:
Let’s pray for more moments for our church to proclaim everything is a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. We want to live more and more in these moments of reality, so let’s ask humbly for more and more.
