Philippians 3

I lost my SOAP journal! Yikes! I gotta do some cleaning to find it! In the meantime, I will have to use my blog...

Scripture/Key verses: Philippians 3: 7-9 & 12-13

7-9, "I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Chris Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith."

12-13, "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things of that I have already reached perfection!  But I keep working onward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing:  Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."

Observation:

"Everything else is worthless compared to knowing Christ Jesus..." Paul's faith is amazing to me. It's amazing to me that even if his circumstances are so painful, he can still trust Jesus to save him. How many times have I questioned Jesus' Godship when I'm faced with bad things... so many I can't even count! I've complained and even doubted God's omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence when I am smack in the middle of problems. My faith is always clouded by, "Well, Jesus said... so howcome...?" Instead of being grateful for grace, I became prideful - having a baseless sense of entitlement because everything is given to me undeserved. Also, Paul's strength to say that he will push onward to be all Jesus has saved him to be (v.12) is a rebuke to me. I have questioned so many times (including prior to opening my bible) the notion that I am purposed to be here. That God breathed his breath of life to give me life because of a reason... That Jesus died on the cross for my sins because of a reason... that I have a reason... that I am the reason.

Oh, Jesus... you're wisdom is to lofty for me me to understand...