Good morning. I pray that this past Easter weekend provided you with incredible joy as we recognized His sacrifice and celebrated His vicotry.
The apostle Paul was saved by Jesus Christ. “Of course he was,” you might say, “everyone knows that.” While we may all know it, those words fall far short of telling the story.
Saul of Tarsus was the most aggressive sinner of all time. That is quite a statement, isn’t it? But think about it, he took it upon himself to try to stamp out the church of our Lord in its infancy. He was powerfully being used by Satan, and proud of it!
Many months after the resurrection of Jesus, Saul’s hateful carnage was well underway. When Jesus confronted him on his way to Damascus, Saul was determined to continue his ways of terror in a more target rich environment. It is hard to imagine that there was anyone less deserving of Christ’s love.
Perhaps that is why the words of the apostle Paul speak so boldly to us today. We read this in Philippians 3:7-11 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Nothing in all the world, Paul says, compares with knowing Jesus. Not all the wealth, or the power, or the sense of accomplishment he knew while he was Christ’s enemy. Nothing can compare with knowing Jesus.
This day will likely present a number of opportunities to find joy, or satisfaction, or meaning away from Christ. But nothing can compare with Jesus. Paul says that compared to knowing Jesus, everything else that this world can offer is nothing but stinking garbage. For that reason, Paul went on to say that he was completey invested in pursuing the prize, the promise of eternity that belongs to all who belong to Jesus.
Accept Jesus in His fulness and know Him in the fulness of joy!
Vern