April 4, 2019
For full passage click: Philippians 3: 4b-9 …“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.” vs. 7
Paul was a proud man! He loved his tribal roots and his religious heritage. He loved his knowledge and his blameless life. Some of us know what that feels like. We’re proud of our ethnic purity and the quality of our education. We hang our advanced degrees on the wall and love the old stories of our immigrant forebears. We love our liturgies and theological traditions and hold fast to the deep meaning we find in our rituals of passage. And then comes the day when some of us, like Paul, realize that none of those things that we’ve held so dear even matter, not even our membership in the Sons of Norway! Who cares if we know the Small Catechism by heart or never miss Sunday worship? It’s not that those things aren’t good, it’s just that we’ve discovered that Christ is everything; and being in Christ is all that really matters. That realization doesn’t make us better than anyone else. In fact, it only means that we’re no better than anyone else. It’s the great equalizer! In Christ there are no denominations, no races, no ethnicities, no insiders or outsiders. In Christ we are one with all creation. No more “isms,” no more political parties, no more creeds! What a blessing it is to see every person as our brother or sister—for in Christ we are all a single family!
Thought for the Day: Why don’t some people know that they are in Christ?
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