philippians 3:8-9

“Yet indeed i also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; “

The knowledge of Christ is gained from sacrificing our time, talents and treasures. Paul lets us know that we have to be willing to give up these things, to focus our vision on Christ. We will suffer plenty in the midst of finding those corrective lenses, however we have to count it as rubbish. What’s in store is so much greater than what the world will put you through. From the persecution, to the lies to the deception to the temptations. What can be found as hope is seen in Revelation 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away.” All things have passed away, and Gods love makes all things new.

The righteousness of man can't possibly be gained through action. There is nothing I did or can do to earn it. Which is why we must gain Christ. He has Justified us through faith. This justification means we are made righteous. And being made righteous gives us a reason to live. A mission which now gives us vision. I think of Abram and Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-24. Abram had a mission, but after he had an intervention with mel, he was now given vision. Mel translates “My king is Righteous,” and he would be the first to bless Abram. This was 1) confirming God's covenant made with Abram made in the beginning of chapter 12 and 2)  showing Abram that everything that he receives belongs to the Lord so in turn his vision is to worship God. This required having faith. How can you worship God if you don't believe in Him? In this moment Abram was now made righteous not because of his act of worship but because of his faith.

Living a life of pride and selfishness will stop you from seeing that its by faith, that we are are able to receive all that God offers. That's why we often hear, “its a heart problem,” or “someone needs a heart check.” Which is so very true. Deuteronomy 4:29 confirms this for us “ but from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”