Anyone who knows me well knows that the third chapter of Philippians is one of my very favorite portions of Scripture! Though i have covered it on this blog before, I can't NOT go into it again today! Look at verses 7-9:
7 But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake. 8 Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One), 9 And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.
When Paul says above that he had "lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish", he was saying that whatever THIS world and THIS life have to offer, it doesn't even begin to compare with the life spent IN HIM and in the hereafter! God WANTS us to walk in the fullness of The Blessing, NOW, in THIS life! But in order to do so, we MUST make HIM our #1 Priority! How to do that? Look at Paul's decision in verse 10:
10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power out flowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] 11 That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].
Paul MADE it a DAILY priority to get to know Jesus more! He goes on to say this in verses 12-14:
12 Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own. 13 I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.
Are YOU "pressing on" to know Him and His Word, and to be obedient to what He says? There is NO substitute for knowing HIM! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "I Live To Know You":
Shalom in Him!
