Knowing God....priceless

Now, for the loss I bear his name,
What was my gain I count my loss
My former pride I call my shame
And nail my glory to His cross

you know all those MasterCard commercials, where they list all these different things like hot...$2, soda...$4, giant foam finger...$5, watching your favorite team win the Superbowl...priceless! Well as i was reading Philippians 3:1-11 today it made me think of those commercials and i could totally see someone making one that said " bible...$30, worship cd...$15, knowing God.....priceless" or something like that. I dunno...maybe its just me but yeah anyways.....

So often in our Christian walk we get caught up in trying to lead the perfect life and to follow the rules etc. however when we do this we act more like the Pharisees did then the way Jesus and the early Christians did. I actually attended a service in which the speaker talked about this very topic ( i feel like it was at Crossroads but not 100% sure). But at that service i remember him talking about how if anyone were to boast about their good works and following the law "perfectly" it would be Paul for as he states in v 4 "....Indeed if others have reason for confidence in their efforts, I have even more". Paul was circumcised when he was 8days old, was a member of the tribe of Benjamin, he was a Pharisee who was so strict and zealous in his teachings that he persecuted the Church relentless. According to him, he followed the law without fault...could you say the same? I know that i couldn't. Thankfully with the love and sacrifice of Christ we are no longer bound to the standards that Paul once was. Going back to my original point, despite being perfect in the law, once Paul became a believer he realized it was all for nothing and counted it all as garbage ...."Yes, everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garabge so that i could gain Christ and becomes one with him through obeying the law..." v8-9 Therefore as i have said before, it is not through own works that we are made righteous but through the works and Glory of God. But first we must take that leap of faith and let go of our wordly pride etc before we can fall in the wonderful arms of Christ with his warmth and glory. In conclusion for today i leave the last two verses of this section as my prayer....

"I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!" (v10-11)