I May Gain Christ And Be Found In Him

For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh – even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:3-11

When you move from a large house to a smaller one, you get rid of things. Some of those things may have personal value to your family. Saul of Tarsus, felt the same way. He believed he had earned righteousness by obeying God’s law. His pedigree and performance were prized possession until he encountered Jesus in a blinding moment on the road to Damascus. Face to face with the risen Savior, his past beliefs became un-important.

When the Holy Spirit urges us to release our grip on any attitude that keeps us from following Christ, we find true freedom in letting go.

Through Christ we have the freedom to let go.

Our Daily Bread – September 15, 2009