Tuesday, September 17 -- Philippians 3

No Confidence in the Flesh

  Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. ² Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. ³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—⁴ though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal,persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ 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 ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousnessthat comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to knowChrist—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
¹² 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. ¹³ 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, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prizefor which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

===============================================================
Running the Race

   Runners who want to race successfully need to have focus.  They must run with an intentional plan and with an eye toward the goal.   Without this focus they might get distracted, or they might run too fast or too slow to meet their goals.

   As Christians we should also run our journey of faith with a plan.  We can't let ourselves focus on past failures and frustrations, but rather should keep ourselves seeking to faithfully serve our Lord in the future.

  Anger and resentment have a real way of dragging God's people down.  They keep us dwelling on others rather than dwelling on Christ. They keep us focused on the past instead of the future.  They keep us dwelling on injustice rather than forgiveness.

   Are you harboring anger in your life?  If so, you know the power it has to captivate your energy and your spirit.  Maybe today is the day to cut off the Tempter's grasp and to lay down your anger at the foot of the cross. 

   And our Lord Jesus will rejoice as your eyes move closer to the goal, and as you start running with more focus and energy.  

================================================================

Following Paul’s Example

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodiesso that they will be like his glorious body.