Dave’s Monday Blast – January 22, 2024

I was reading a devotional the other day from the late Charles Stanley. He was breaking down a passage from Philippians 3 where the Apostle Paul is discussing legacy, mission, passion, purpose, and value (my words). Of course, as he defines these things for himself, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he is teaching all of us to examine How we shall then live as Children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, until He takes us home.

I want to take a couple of weeks to unpack this devotional by Pastor Stanley  (Philippians 3:7 – 16).  I do encourage you to read this passage a couple times before you jump in.

1. Paul had one desire that superseded all others found in vv. 7 – 8. “Whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”.

To this Stanley comments: “That’s a challenging standard, isn’t it? Are career, family, financial, material, or social goals more important to you than gaining deeper knowledge of, and intimacy with, your Savior? There’s nothing wrong with pursuing other things, but they need to take second place to your relationship with the Lord. That means you have to make time to spend with Him, in His word and prayer.”

2. Paul had a primary goal for his life found in v. 10. “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”. Stanley comments: “This wasn’t just a superficial familiarity. Paul wanted to know Christ personally and experientially by (1) joyful, daily surrender to His resurrection power, (2) by suffering for righteousness as He did, and (3) by being continually conformed to Christ by putting sin to death in his life.”

He continues: “Is knowing God better honestly your primary goal? Most Christians would like to say yes, but the way they invest their time and effort indicates otherwise. The desire may be there, but the action is not; there’s no ‘follow-through.’ No one ever drifts into fulfilling a goal. Without expending effort, you have a wish, not a goal, and no progress is made without a plan to fulfill it.”

Next week we will chat about how Paul whole-heartedly pursued his goal from vv.13 -14 using the imagery of a race.