But whatever former things I had that
might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as one combined loss for
Christ’s sake. Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the
possession of the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness, the
surpassing worth, and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more
deeply and intimately
acquainted with Him -- of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more
fully and clearly. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to
be mere rubbish, refuse and dregs, in order that I may win (gain) Christ The
Anointed One.
And that I may actually be found and known as in Him, not having any
self-achieved righteousness that can be called my own based on my obedience to
the Law’s demands -- ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with
God thus acquired -- but possessing that genuine righteousness which comes
through faith in Christ The Anointed One, the truly right standing with God
which comes from God by saving faith.
For my determined purpose is that I
may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately
acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders
of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way
come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection, which it exerts over
believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually
transformed in spirit into His likeness even to His death. In the hope that if
possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out
from among the dead even while in the body.
Not that I have now attained this
ideal, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp)
and make my own, that for which
Christ Jesus The Messiah has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have
captured and made it my own
yet; but one thing I do, it is my one aspiration: Forgetting what lies behind
and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the
supreme and heavenly prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.
So let those of us who are spiritually
mature and full-grown have this
mind and hold these
convictions; and if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God
will make that clear to you also.
The Apostle Paul is describing
the cost and rewards of deep intimate relationship with Christ, a relationship
based on the priceless privilege of the indwelling
Christ-Life. We must be found and known as in Him, and determined to really
know Him. In intimate relationship we come to perceive, recognize and
understand the wonders of His person, and come to know and experience the power
outflowing from His resurrection. It is likewise in intimate relationship that we
learn to share Christ’s sufferings -- submitting to His Lordship over our life
and crucifying Self – that in submission and death we might be continually
transformed into His likeness… His nature. Recognizing our imperfection we
press on to lay hold of and make our own that for which Christ has laid hold of
us and made us His own. Saints, we all must forget what lies behind and press
on toward the goal, the supreme and heavenly prize into which God has called us…
Christlikeness! This is really an astonishing passage give it was written by
the Apostle Paul thirty plus years into his ministry while captive in a Roman
prison.
No comments:
Post a Comment