Faith in Christ

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

FAITH IN CHRIST

Phil 3:7-11

7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

NIV

Paul just finished talking about how good a Jew he was. A Hebrew of Hebrews, that he did everything according to the Law, and he had every right to boast in the flesh. But not a bit of that matters to him and he considers all his former life as the best Jew every as a loss for the sake of Christ. What can we learn about our lives from this? Everything we have ever considered as important in life should be considered as rubbish to gain Christ. What does that mean? What do most people consider important in life? Such things like education, or degrees, titles, success, financial security, expensive things, big homes, fancy cars, boats or even an airplane. It would seem many people find something in this life to focus their attention on as being their idea of achievement. It seems many parents desire to see their children succeed. However, the fact is we should not be looking at the world’s view of success or gage our life on its standards. We need to consider all that as loss, it is meaningless as it has nothing to do with attaining righteousness and eternal life. What good is having everything the world has to offer only to die and end up in hell? It is not that we should live in poverty and own or have nothing, it is a matter of our focus. Then we also have to consider our spiritual life. How do we look at attaining righteousness? Is it by works or faith? Paul said his former life was based on attaining righteousness through works, but now he considers that all a loss, compared to gaining Christ, who brings righteousness from God through faith. Again, we should not live as the pagans do just because we have the freedom in Christ. It is true we should live a life pleasing to the Lord. We should endeavor, at least the best we can, not commit sin. However, the fact remains, we will fail to attain perfection and sin occurs because we live in these corruptible bodies. Sure, we should not make any excuse for the flesh, but this is not an excuse, it is a reality. Jesus made that clear when he asked those men who wanted him to condemn the woman caught in adultery. He said, go ahead and stone her, however, the one who has no sin should cast the first stone. All the men had to turn away because all of them had some sin in their lives, none except Jesus, were perfectly free of sin. So we cannot look at our form of spirituality, or keeping some form of the law, adhering to our form of rules and regulations that may or may not be completely biblically based, as a means of attaining righteousness. All of that kind of Christianity is as rubbish compared to the righteousness that comes from God through faith. Yes, faith brings a change in our lifestyle. Faith causes us to refocus our life on Jesus, instead of on the world. Faith stimulates us to know more about God, to study his word, to explore his working in our lives. Faith motivates us to works which further his kingdom. Faith brings us to becoming more like Christ in both his sufferings and in his death, but also in his resurrection. There is no resurrection from the dead without faith. True all the dead will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, but those who died without faith are still dead, they will not see life eternal. We who have faith will be resurrected onto eternal life in the everlasting presence of our Lord. Why would anyone refuse to have faith in God, and believe in the world?  We chose faith in Christ.