Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

Communion with the risen Lord in daily life
Philippians 3:8-16
Vs 8b  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and I regard them as rubbish inorder that I may gain Christ”.
It has been about three weeks since we came to the end of another Lenten season. During that time many of us once again spent 50 days contemplating the life, suffering, death, and the climactic scenes of the resurrection. Moreover, due to the current pandemic that plagues our world, more time has been spent in prayer and studying the Word of God than possibly ever before. Sometimes after having participated in such a spiritual exercise, it is easy to become weary and slowly slip back into our daily routines and focus on our worldly lives. It is important that we view the Resurrection of our Lord as more than a significant historical event that we celebrate once a year. We must recognize the power of the Resurrection in the present and maintain communion with the risen Lord in our daily lives.

Even nonbelievers and people of other faiths acknowledge the existence of the historical Jesus.  A believer must move past a surface intellectual understanding of Jesus and have a deeper relationship with Him, not only acknowledging his existence, but also recognizing the importance of continuing to be in communion with him.  A Christian knows how to maintain the relationship with Jesus. We have been hearing, “Read your Bible, pray every day” since childhood. However, unless we perceive its value in our lives, we will never be able to sincerely carry it out. We may be able to make it a habit, like brushing our teeth in the morning, but that seems rather monotonous.

St. Paul possessed a deep understanding of the significance of this relationship. Knowing Christ Jesus his Lord is what Paul sees as “surpassing worth”.  When he uses the phrase “knowing Christ”, it is a deep and intimate understanding beyond a superficial knowledge. In verse 8, Paul who is imprisoned at the moment explains that he counts everything as loss because of the immense value of knowing God. From a worldly point of view, Paul has lost a great deal. Being a pharisee, coming to the knowledge caused him to lose his position, power, possibly family and friends. His identity as Saul was lost, his freedom was lost, and at the end he even lost his life. Despite his ordeals, he was able to say, “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.” Gaining Christ meant that he had to accept his losses and view them as rubbish that needed to be disposed of. His new identity was in Christ and this enabled Paul to “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.” Paul goes on to say that he is not claiming that he has “already obtained this” or that he is “already perfect”. He makes it clear that, “I press on to make it my own.” 

In order to press on and make it our own, we too must set aside the things of this world and daily be in communion with our Lord. This requires that we are always aware of how valuable the relationship with the Lord is. Once we recognize the significance of that relationship, we will be willing to do whatever it takes to maintain it. In every relationship of our lives, we put forth effort to maintain it. Being sincere in prayer and in the study of God’s word will deepen our fellowship with Christ. We will better understand and be accepting of God’s will for our lives. It is especially beneficial in these crisis times to put everything in our lives into perspective and come to the undeniable conclusion that Paul came to. Like Paul, let us all be able to say, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”

 
PRAYER
Lord Jesus You are our all in all  Enable us to have a victorious life through  communion  and power of the resurrected Christ in our daily lives.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Perceive the value of knowing Christ in our lives every day.
Mr Vivin Varughese, The Mar Thoma Church Staten Island
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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