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THE EXCELLENCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST!
THURSDAY, MAY 25
Philippians 3:7-9

Romans 5:12-21

 

“…I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the

knowledge of Christ…”

 

THE EXCELLENCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST!
 
Paul bitterly denounced his vain and foolish past. All that he used to take pride in, he now regarded them as all loss and dung! These things were what he used to regard as “gain” – as something to his advantage, merits that he thought would bring him closer to God and heaven. Yet now he said he had counted them as loss for Christ. He used the verb “count” in the perfect tense, meaning that this is an action that happened at a point of time in the past, but the effects continue on to the present. He reckoned, and now continued to reckon, that all these vain works that he had held on so dearly to were actually detrimental to his spiritual life. They were in fact a hindrance in helping him acknowledge his sin and his need to humble himself before the Almighty God!
 
Instead of all those vain works he once prided himself with, he now put them aside for the single goal of the excellency (supreme attainment) of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord! For Christ, he was more than willing to cast aside the confidence in the flesh, to regard them as nothing but refuse! Instead, what he now desired was to have more Christ in his life. The word “win” shares the same root word as the word for “gain” in verse 7. He drew the contrast, that what he used to consider as gain, was now seen as loss, and with the loss of all these things, he could now replace it with the gain of Christ.
 
The reason for this complete change in his perspectives was because he had realised the futility of the righteousness gained through the law, and that the only righteousness one could really have was that of God by faith. He saw how all his efforts in the past had been vain, for they were of the law. He no longer wanted to strike it out on his own, trying so hard but always failing. He realised that he must simply be found in Christ, that through his faith in Christ, he could have the perfect righteousness of God. It is this righteousness that we receive when we are justified, that will enable us to enjoy eternity in heaven with God. Is this where your confidence lies in as well?
 
THOUGHT: Is there any better knowledge in this life than the knowledge of Christ?

PRAYER: May I always seek to know Christ more and more each day.

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