December 27, 2017 – Philippians 3:8-9

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. Philippians 3:8-9.

How do I separate the real from the unreal, or true treasure from treasure that has no value?  Obeying laws does not count as righteousness with our Lord God. We are right with God when our faith in Jesus Christ is in our spiritual DNA.  When Jesus is our identity, when we learn to trust Him, and live for Him only, we have faith and live for Him.

In Matthew 5:6, Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. In Psalm 42:1, we find, As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.  

This hunger and thirst for Jesus becomes so deep, we want to know the power that raised Him from the dead. Death becomes a beginning, not an end of this earth; death is a door to the glory that awaits us with Jesus.  No one loves us like Jesus loves us. No one else died to make a way for us to be with Him, not for a visit, but for an eternity.  Jesus is our ‘happily ever after’.

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! Philippians 3:10-11.