In Jesus Name Ministries

Author: Paul the Apostle

Place: Rome

Date: AD 60 or 61

This is part of a long letter Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi. Paul was in prison at the time he wrote this letter, and did not know if he would live or die. But he wanted to be sure his friends continued to strive to be the best Christians they could be, never losing faith, but gaining even more faith...

 But all these things that I once thought to be very worthwhile--now I've thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone.

  Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God's laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith--counting on Christ alone. Now I have given up everything else--I have found it to be the only way to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought him back to life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with him. So, whatever it takes, I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who are alive from the dead.

  I don't mean to say I am perfect. I haven't learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.

  No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I will strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

  I hope all of you who are mature Christians will see eye-to-eye with me on these things, and if you disagree at some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you--if you fully obey the truth you have.

  Dear brothers, patern your lives after mine and notice who else lives up to my example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again, with tears in my eyes, there are many who walk along the Christian road who are really enemies of the cross of Christ. Their future is eternal loss, for their god is their appetite: they are proud of what they should be ashamed of; and all they think about is the life here on earth. But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ is; and we are looking forward to his return from there. When he comes back he will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer all else everywhere. 

  Paul wanted his friends to understand eternal life in heaven, side by side with our Lord is worth everything, and the material things of this world are worth nothing. Gathering up riches, or so called, "good deeds," pretending to be a good Christian; looking for a pat on the back, as Paul says, "being proud of what they should be ashamed of," will certainly get you into the clutches of Satan, but shall never get you into heaven.

 And being good, or being a nice person is not going to get anyone to heaven. No, we must leave our yesterdays behind us, leave our old habits behind us, die to our old selves, be born again. Trusting the Lord alone, by faith; knowing He will save us. Proclaiming Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Confessing our sin, striving to not sin anymore. Believing He died for our sins, and is waiting in Heaven for us. Finishing the race, receiving the prize of eternal life with Him. That is the only thing with any worth.