Giving Up!
Philippians 3:8-11 HCSB 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ-the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 [My goal] is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
Holy cow! How have I never heard what this passage is saying? Read it again, I'll wait.................... Now go back and read it a third time! Do you hear what Paul is saying? Do you really? I didn't until Francis Chan gave me his insight in "Crazy Love.... Overwhelmed by a relentless God". Paul is telling the Phillipians that he is giving up the way of his last life and his future life for Christ. He's vowing to follow Christ 100%. Not 96%, 100%! How many of us can say that we have given up our lives for Christ? That we are willing to spread the Gospel the way Paul did.
This passage hit me hard. Right between the eyes. God spoke to me. He said that I'm still doing it wrong. I'm "striving" for a life falling in love with Him but I'm still living in the world. God has introduced me to a wonderful person. They have a yearning for Christ in a way I haven't seen since my Grampie was alive. This person strives to not be of this world. They are not perfect by any means and they struggle with their Earthly life but they make God and Jesus a priority. One day we were at the park talking and we could hear music from another area. My friend made a comment that they were glad they weren't apart of this world, that they strive to live a Christ-honored life. On this specific day I didn't quite understand their statement. However, tonight, after reading this passage and what Francis has to say about it, I think I'm beginning to hear what they were saying. Making Christ a priority helps to bring the Gospel to more people.
So how am I going to leave my worldly ways? With God's unfailing love and guidance. I pray that He will reveal to me what I need to change so I can fall as deeply in love with Him as He is with me.
Holy cow! How have I never heard what this passage is saying? Read it again, I'll wait.................... Now go back and read it a third time! Do you hear what Paul is saying? Do you really? I didn't until Francis Chan gave me his insight in "Crazy Love.... Overwhelmed by a relentless God". Paul is telling the Phillipians that he is giving up the way of his last life and his future life for Christ. He's vowing to follow Christ 100%. Not 96%, 100%! How many of us can say that we have given up our lives for Christ? That we are willing to spread the Gospel the way Paul did.
This passage hit me hard. Right between the eyes. God spoke to me. He said that I'm still doing it wrong. I'm "striving" for a life falling in love with Him but I'm still living in the world. God has introduced me to a wonderful person. They have a yearning for Christ in a way I haven't seen since my Grampie was alive. This person strives to not be of this world. They are not perfect by any means and they struggle with their Earthly life but they make God and Jesus a priority. One day we were at the park talking and we could hear music from another area. My friend made a comment that they were glad they weren't apart of this world, that they strive to live a Christ-honored life. On this specific day I didn't quite understand their statement. However, tonight, after reading this passage and what Francis has to say about it, I think I'm beginning to hear what they were saying. Making Christ a priority helps to bring the Gospel to more people.
So how am I going to leave my worldly ways? With God's unfailing love and guidance. I pray that He will reveal to me what I need to change so I can fall as deeply in love with Him as He is with me.
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