by David Brenneman
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:7-14.
Paul valued nothing as more important than what he was called to do in Christ. Didn't matter what was presented to him, what opportunities that presented themselves, Paul clearly only wanted to hear "Well done!" from Jesus and nothing else.
Paul might also have been driven to excel in this because of his former manner of life before coming to Christ for salvation. As Saul he certainly saw the worst in himself playing out for all to see.
Even with some coming to him in his latter years to warn him of what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem, he wouldn't be swayed.
Dedication, devotion, commitment, that he displayed are certainly the above ground fruits of the Spirit in his life. He urged other, including ourselves, to walk such a life in Christ as he had.
Jesus Himself said "Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds." Matthew 16:24-27.
We aren't here, and some of you will need to Google this, we aren't here to create our own "Fantasy Island".
We who are alive and remain right now are to grow in Christ, to display the love of God in Christ Jesus to those who are perishing. Not to collect the most toys, to spend our time looking for ways to enjoy ourselves for our own sakes.
Time to think and consider what is important in life is some part of what I have been given in these last 8 months. A great many things needing fixed have been fixed by God's provision. There's others that are just going to have to wait. But the real thing is being given more time to think. More time to be in God's Word. Relearning some things that I had forgotten. Putting less on things that I really don't need and more towards the calling for which I have been called and chosen in Christ Jesus to be fulfilling.
You too, if you are in Christ, have a personal calling in Christ Jesus to fulfill, not just what you are to be doing with fellow Believers.
You too, are to make your personal goals to be that which honors God rather than yourself. ALL that we pursue for self, rather than what we do in life for the Lord as He-through the Spirit called us to do and be-will be burned up when exposed to the fires of the Behma seat of Jesus Christ.
What are you pursuing that is a waste of what God called you to be and do for Him? What's getting your time, money and attention that should be spent on things that align with His calling for you in Christ?
Right now is the time to get serious as Paul was showing us all to be serious in our walk with Jesus, this race set before us. Look at his personal letters to Timothy and Titus. Look at what he says about his speech, love and conduct.
Are we really showing ourselves to be examples of Christ or do people only see us? If they only see us, poor Ambassadors are we then.
If God's Word holds no interest to you...then you really need to question your salvation in Christ. Because being saved is way more than just escaping the fires of Hell.
If you aren't in prayer or only pray the exact same thing all the time, then you're seriously neglecting the right relationship you were to be in after coming to Christ for salvation.
How long would a real world relationship last if you kept only repeating the same thing every day to the person you said you wanted to get to know?
We as Christians, as Ambassadors for Christ, need to get our priorities in order. We will give an account of EVERY thing said, thought, or done in our bodies.
Having been told by Jesus to be careful how we listen, do we? I know that I struggle with this at times.
Having been told to abandon sinful practices, do we? Or are we convincing ourselves that it's "just who I am" rather than going to God for help in those areas?
Are we limiting God blessing us because we withhold blessing others? What? Are you afraid that God won't bless you another time?
We have a calling in Christ to fulfill and will give an account concerning whether or not we pursued it well.
We have a need to be taught by the Spirit of God and to heed what the Bible says to us.
We cannot please God if we aren't loving God as He's worthy to be loved by us. If we aren't obeying God then we prove ourselves to be liars not living in the truth.
We have a choice every day we have been given to breathe the breath of life to live an obedient life to Jesus.
We have a choice to make to deny ourselves, to take up our own cross, and to follow Christ.
We will give an account to Jesus as to whether or not we obeyed in this.
Paul counted everything as loss in order to know Jesus more...do we?
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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