God in Christ Jesus is Telling Us the Truth

May 30, 2016

God in Christ Jesus is Telling Us the Truth

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Philippians 3:8a

              

As we journey toward becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus, God is calling us to join with the Apostle Paul to regard everything as worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.” How are we, like Paul, to regard everything but knowing Jesus as worthless?

Our life in Christ has been described as coming to the place in our lives when we realize the world’s culture has told us a pack of lies about who we are, who our neighbor is and who God is. In this place in our lives, we also come to the conclusion that God in Christ Jesus is telling us the truth. This is what Paul is saying in Philippians 3. Paul came to the place where his conversion was complete. He described his life as living, moving and existing in Christ. (Acts 17:28) By complete conversion, I do not mean perfection. Later in Chapter 3, Paul admits that he has not reached perfection. What he has reached is the complete assurance that everything he desires in life is found in Jesus and in Jesus alone!

Paul came to the place where his choices in life were simple. He could rely on his human ability, or he could rely on divine grace. Today’s culture has a third alternative. Instead of the “either / or” of Paul, there is a “both / and” movement that tries to hold to both a belief in God and confidence in human ability. However, there is a huge problem with the “both / and” approach. The “both / and” approach creates a temptation to dismiss or ignore the parts of Scripture we do not like, or do not understand, and instead, trust our own judgment and intellect. When we do so, we leave the “both / and” camp and move squarely into the Humanist camp. Paul’s way of living in our environment does not ignore human intellect and potential; it affirms that human intellect and potential are fully realized within God’s divine grace and will.

There is no shortcut to Paul’s place of complete conversion. Paul’s bucket list became very short: he wanted to gain Christ and become one with him. Do you need to thin out your bucket list? Take some time to consider where you spend your money, how you spend your time and where your day dreams take you. How well do these line up with gaining Jesus and becoming one with him?

      

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.