Join us as we read the scriptures and a daily devotion written by Don Crisp. We pray these messages will bless us all at this time.
Day 14 – Philippians 3:5-8
Categories: Don’s Daily Devotions
Tues 26th May – Read Philippians 3:5-8
V5: Paul emphasises his ” Jewish credentials “. All these false teachers sought to impose on Gentile believers, he once valued and claimed for himself, believing he would be right with God through his own works, and by his clear Jewish ancestry and identity, and his zeal as a Pharisee ( which elsewhere he calls “the strictest party of our religion” – Acts 26:5).
V6: In that zeal he persecuted the church ( Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1-2) and he believed his own righteousness, through strict Jewish observance and his own law keeping, would satisfy God.
V7: Yet everything he once set such store in, he rejects as useless and willingly puts away now he knows Christ as the Saviour who alone makes him right with God.
V8: For nothing compares with knowing Christ as Saviour and Lord – He is more worthy, more precious, than anything else could ever be. Can we say this? Paul now regards the things he once valued so as worthless rubbish. ( His word is actually much stronger!) When He speaks of his longing to “gain Christ”, he no longer means by his own efforts, but by God’s grace alone.