Suffering and Knowing Jesus Christ

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

A Costly Call

Philippians 3:7-16 The Message

7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

For Reflection

We spend most of our lives establishing a safe and secure existence for our selves and our families. We are so tied to the work of survival that we are not open to the spiritual life that awaits us. 

Paul is aware of the transformation of his life that allowed him to transcend the everyday pressures of survival. He, like many of us, felt unsatisfied with the corporal life.  In following Christ, Paul found a pathway out of his enslavement to human desires, and into the freedom to expand his former life in ways that provided joy and fulfillment.

Pray

Through prayer, open your soul so that the Holy Spirit will be enabled to lead your transformation into Grace. Pray so that you may find resurrection from the dead ends of your former life.

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