Saturday, April 11, 2026

Opening Scripture

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. Romans 8:5-9

Opening Prayer

Gracious Father, thank you for the rhythms of day and night, labor and rest, activity and stillness. Open my heart to your love and my mind to your truth. Help me to sense your comforting presence throughout the day as I follow the Lord Jesus. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

Philippians 3:7-14

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Reflection  

After listing his accomplishments and religious pedigree in the previous verses, Paul declares all of it to be a “dirty diaper” compared to knowing Christ. The things that impressed Paul’s Philippian readers – and that used to impress him – are now worthless and meaningless next to the surpassing greatness of following Jesus.

The Lord had changed the entire economy of Paul’s life! His confidence had radically shifted from himself and what he could do, to Jesus and what He could do.

Paul declares that his wonderful relationship with Christ was also the source of true righteousness – being right in the sight of God. That “right standing” wasn’t based on Paul keeping the law or following the religious rules, as he had thought before. True righteousness comes from following Jesus each day by grace through faith.

Paul expressed this reality in his letter to the Galatians. “A person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Paul obviously “knew” the Lord well already, but the blessing of that intimate relationship only made Paul want to know Him even more! “The surpassing worth of knowing (gnōseōs) Christ Jesus my Lord” refers to having experiential knowledge – learning and understanding through experience. Paul wanted more of it!

Paul wanted to experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection. He understood that the energy and strength (dynamis) that raised Jesus from the dead was now at work in the lives of those who have been “raised with Christ” (Colossians 3:1). That divine power enables us to live out our mission according to God’s will.

Paul also longed to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, being conformed to his death. This sounds a lot like Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 16:24-25, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

All of this reflects the conformity that followers of Jesus assume when they commit their lives to Him. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:3-5).

Paul understood that following The Jesus Way is a lifetime journey – a long obedience in the same direction. We never “arrive” at spiritual maturity here on Earth. There’s always more of God’s truth to learn and share. The mission will not be complete until Jesus comes again. Like Paul, we need to forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead, pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Flourishing Habit

Character and Virtue

In his book, After You Believe, N.T. Wright offers this insight. “Human ‘character,’ in this sense, is the pattern of thinking and acting which runs right through someone, so that wherever you cut into them (as it were), you see the same person through and through. It’s opposite would be superficiality: we all know people who present themselves at first glance as honest, cheerful, patient, or whatever, but when you get to know them better you come to realize that they’re only ‘putting it on,’ and that when faced with a crisis, or simply when their guard is down, they’re as dishonest, grouchy, and impatient as the next person.

The qualities of character, which Jesus and his first followers insist on as the vital signs of healthy Christian life, don’t come about automatically. You have to develop them. You have to work at them. You have to think about them, to make conscious choices to allow the Holy Spirit to form your character in ways that, to begin with, seem awkward and ‘unnatural.’ Only in that way can you become the sort of ‘character’ who will react instantly to sudden challenges with wisdom and good judgment.”

How are you pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus?

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!