Too BIG for your britches?

Ok. So. I have to admit I’ve been on a total ‘love’ high coming home from Josh & Kristen’s wedding this week. I’m struggling to get back into the swing of things & focus on work, laundry, cleaning our apartment & even the book of Philippians. Instead I’ve been hanging out in 1 Corinthians 13 & Ephesians 5:21-31… reading verses on love & basking in the afterglow of a beautiful celebration of life. Justifying that celebration is, after all, a big part of living a life that matters.

But today I’m resigned to buckle down & get back to it… at least to Philippians…

May 23:

Living a Life that Matters…

Philippians 3:1-11

“And that’s about it, friends. Be glad in God!

I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry—so here goes.

Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they’re interested in is appearances—knife-happy circumcisers, I call them. The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ’s praise as we do it. We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.

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.

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.” 

Ehem… so here’s what I’m thinking… 

Paul had great credentials.  He was a Jew. He was a Roman. He was a Pharisee i.e. he could recite Genesis thru Deuteronomy. He knew the Law frontwards, backwards & sideways. 

& yet… here he is encouraging us NOT to put stock in such things. Instead, he implores us to focus on Christ. Without Him we have nothing. We can do nothing. We are nothing. Seriously? Seriously.

When we are tempted to get a little big for our spiritual britches…
we should take note
take ourselves out of it
& give all glory to the Holy One.
King of Kings.
Lord of Lords.
Prince of Peace.
Alpha Omega.
Beginning & the End.
There.
There is where all glory lies. 

http://youtu.be/I7rjwkLpooY