January 27 | Philippians 3:7-11

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DAILY READING

Philippians 3:7-11

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REFLECTION

Seeing Things Differently

By Pam Mann

When Paul says he considers his gains as a loss (even as garbage), is he referring to your box of awards and trophies forgotten in the basement? Probably not, unless the box includes an Olympic gold medal. That’s an award that affects your social standing. Paul, in Phil 3:5-7, lists the gains which gave him status in his Jewish community. You might heft your high school trophies into a dumpster but your reputation you do not want trashed.

Amazingly, Paul, the once zealous Pharisee, writes to us that the reputation which he once held dear he is now letting go. For Paul, it is now far, far more valuable to be found in Christ. He wants to know Christ, to know the power of his rising, and to participate in his sufferings.

How did Paul get to such a point of all-in commitment? Likely the priority-changing moment was on the road to Damascus when Jesus confronted Paul in blinding light. Thereafter, Paul suffers three days of blindness until he is healed. Then, he comes to see things differently.

Perhaps God gives each of us extreme moments that can thrill us or terrify us in order to guide us into seeing things differently. I can think of multiple events in my life wherein an unexpected event, sometimes positive and other times negative, shook me from spiritual

grogginess into high alert. Consider the woman whose house was burnt down but she’s thrilled that no life was lost. She cares little about photos and heirlooms turned to ashes when all her family is safe. Consider the couple who narrowly escaped a drunk driver as he hurdled down the wrong side of the road. They’re of a mind to think more clearly about what’s most important in life. Consider the man in mid-life getting a terminal cancer diagnosis. Now he knows his days are numbered fewer than he’d thought. He feels a renewed incentive to make each day count for God’s kingdom.

Again and again, Paul faced life-threatening situations as he traveled and preached the Gospel. Do you think that it’s in light of these near-death incidences that he can declare clearly what he writes in Phil. 3:10?

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death...

When we await the resurrection with confidence, death loses its finality and, subsequently, its sting. In the days that remain to Paul, he wants participation in the sufferings of Christ. How does participating in Christ’s suffering brings us into the abundant life we read about in John 10:10? If abundant living and sharing in suffering go together, then being found in Christ truly involves a different way of seeing things, doesn’t it? Has Paul decided that wealth and status are no longer his personal goals but, at best, merely a means that he can use to serve Jesus? Is he deciding to go wherever Jesus leads, whatever the risk, whatever the cost?

Yes, this is Paul’s purpose. What is yours?

PRAYER

Lord, I want to know You. I want to be found in You. I want to know the power of Your resurrection in my life. Show me how to participate in Your suffering, starting where I am today. Let me see my life as You see it.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAM MANN

I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.