You can have this world, just give me Jesus...

Philippians 3:7-14

 

 ⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What 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 ⁹and 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. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 ¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

 

 

 In this passage, Paul realizes that anything and everything pales in comparison to Jesus Christ. We all have things in our life that we love....friends, family, sports, jobs, music, games, books, etc. We consider these things very important and we hold them dear to us. Paul describes here how all these things that seem so great, are NOTHING compares to knowing Jesus. This is easy to say but hard to act out in our lives. We know that we should put God first, and that everything else that is of importance to us is worthless. No matter what we do, it is only by faith that we can be found in Christ. We are fallen and do not have the ability to earn our salvation, but God loves us so much that He saves us. If God gave up his only Son for us, can't we give up these things in our life to live for God? 

I love this passage, but struggle to find words to express my thoughts about it....let me know your thoughts!

 

In verse twelve, Paul writes "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." This verse is beautiful. Has Christ taken hold of your heart? What has He made you passionate about? What does He want you to do with your life? If you know, great! If you don't....pray. He will show you. He will take hold of you. Once you know, don't wait. Paul says he will PRESS ON to take hold of his purpose. We must move forward and work toward the purpose for which God put each of us here.

Christ has taken hold of my heart with a love of music, a love for children, a love for teaching, a love for sharing His promise with others.... I need to press on toward these things and put my whole heart into them. I'm definitely not able to do that yet as well as I'd like to, just as Paul said "I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it."
A quote from one of my favorite authors, John Eldrege, applies here.... "Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Our world is full of hatred and sin, and we need people who have come alive with passion. Passion about what they do, and passion for Jesus Christ. Don't think about what would make you most successful. It's not about what is easy, or what others tell you to do. What Jesus Christ has taken hold of you to do?

 

Paul reminds us at the end of this passage to forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead. I don't think he means we should forget our past, but that we should learn from it and we should stay focused on the goal of knowing Christ and living for Him. . .