Philippians 3:8–9: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;”

June 24th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul begins to take on the language of an accountant. It is as though he is taking a ledger and doing a profit-and-loss statement of his life. He counts everything in his life, before finding Jesus, as a negative, a liability, and considered debt. In fact he concludes that everything can all be summed up in one word: rubbish. The Greek word he uses refers to garbage or waste, but is often translated as “dung” or “manure.” Paul was saying that human successes are like big piles of manure. He even includes his genetic heritage and the law, which he had once thought so important, in his piles of rubbish. Paul had learned that the righteousness he had so desperately sought for through heritage and good works was only attainable through clinging to, relying on, and trusting in what Jesus did on the cross.

A believer was given a large sum of money to give to a poor pastor. But rather than give the large sum all at once, the believer sent portions of it at regular intervals with a note that read, “More to follow.” This continued until the full sum was given to the pastor. This story illustrates that the good things we receive from God always come by faith, with the same prospect of more to follow. When we first come to Jesus and receive forgiveness for our sins, there is more to follow. This is true about every blessing and grace that we have received in our life so far, and it will continue to be true on into eternity. With God, there is always “more to follow.”

“LORD, we look to You in quiet expectation of many good blessings coming to us and through us to others, from You, as we follow You this day.”