Philippians 3:7-11 (NIV)
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 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 on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul in his pre-Christian life was a proud man, a man who wore his heritage (which was solid) and his accomplishments (which were many) like a banner as he went through his days. As he said, if anyone else believed that he had reason to put confidence in the flesh, Paul had more (Philippians 3:4).
But as soon as Paul had been confronted by the risen Christ, as soon as the light of Jesus’ face lit up his fleshly heritage and his worldly accomplishments, he saw them for what they truly were: rubbish, refuse, worth nothing at all in God’s sight. And it horrified him that he had spent so much of his time and energy to gain such things.
Instead, Paul realized that knowing Jesus, being in a living relationship with him, was really all that mattered. Even more, he was absolutely willing, even eager, to lose all the rest, to lay it on the altar as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1- 2) in order to live fully in Christ.
Paul saw clearly that his own self-made righteousness, the legalistic righteousness that made him appear righteous on the outside while having a sin-rotted heart on the inside, counted as nothing in God’s sight. He saw the righteousness of Jesus fully laid out before him, and so hungered and thirsted for that genuine righteousness, that he received it, had been filled with it (Matthew 5:6).
Paul fully realized that to experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection, he had to live like Jesus, to suffer like Jesus, and even to take up his own cross and die like Jesus. And he bent all his will and efforts to that goal, allowing Jesus himself to live in and through him, continuing to do His soul-saving work using Paul as a tool, a vessel to accomplish it.
Father, it is always a great temptation for us to try to be righteous in our own strength, to try to live in such a way that we deserve heaven in the end. But there is no greater illustration of the futility of that way than Paul himself. Looking back, he clearly saw that that way of life was a dead-end, rubbish. Instead, he found that the way to truly live a life pleasing to You was to die and to let Jesus live His own holy life through him. It’s completely counter-intuitive, but over and over again, all through history, it has been shown by the great saints to be the only way to successfully live for you. Help me, Lord, to allow Jesus to so fully live through me that I successfully do all you call me to do today in His righteousness, His strength, His power. Help me to so hunger and thirst for his righteousness that only comes by faith in Him, that I am filled to overflowing. Amen.