The Surpassing Value of Personally Knowing Jesus Christ: Philippians 3:7-11
“7) But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8) More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9) and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11) in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11
Paul found through his personal faith relationship with Jesus Christ something deeper and better than anything religion or the world could offer him. For the sake of Christ, he lost everything his past life had to offer. In fact, he said by comparison to personally knowing Jesus Christ, everything from his past life had less value than sewage and rubbish. That’s a blunt comparison!
He went on to say that “in Christ” he found a surpassing value to which nothing else could comparable. It’s true! When you build a personal faith relationship with Jesus Christ, He fills every void and surpasses every other pursuit in life. He completes the inner vacuum for which you were created.
I use this Scripture to highlight the importance of building a daily walk with Jesus Christ. No project, program or person can compare to a daily relationship with Jesus Christ. Make knowing Him the #1 pursuit and priority in your life.
It’s not that you will not do or enjoy other things like sports or hobbies, but you will not do them alone. Jesus will be right beside you and make them fuller and more meaningful. He adds depth and meaning to every morally good endeavor in life. I enjoy recreational flying, water sports, gardening, the outdoors and many other things, but Jesus is right beside me adding friendship, meaning and value. He deepens every relationship in life. He also helps me avoid dumb, tragic and sinful traps.
According to John 15:1-17, abiding in Him will result in abundant joy and fruitfulness. He goes before His own like a good Shepherd and calls us by name, but we must follow Him.(John 10:27-28) He does not force, compel or drive us to seek or follow Him. It must come from personal desire.
According to verse 28, He gives eternal life to those who follow His voice. The Greek word is “eternal Zoe.” He gives life on the level of the spirit. We will learn much more about this in the days to come.
For this lesson, I want to stress the importance of building your daily relationship with Jesus Christ. Only He can fulfill and complete you. All else is spinning wheels, dead end roads and a waste of time.
Walking daily with Jesus Christ has a compounding affect. It gets better and better and deeper and deeper with every passing day, month and year. I have now been in a faith relationship with Jesus Christ for over 50 years. I agree with the apostle Paul; nothing compares to a growing relationship of personally knowing Jesus Christ.
Daily Bible Commentary By Terry Baxter: Cofounder of GoServ Global
