To Lose is Gain // Devotional 2.1 // Colossians 3:5-10
To Lose is Gain // Devotional 2.1 // Colossians 3:5-10
In this session we talked about our image in the world, the things we identify with, and interpret those things as our own values. But as believers, we are called to understand and take in values that in the world may seem as radical. Radical in a sense that to others it may seem as though you act on a different social norm.
There is tension while we trade worldly values for the values that Christ teaches. It is a struggle of continually dying to yourself and choosing again and again, to live by under the rule of our divine creator, or to define right and wrong that only benefits ourselves.
For the sake of Christ, what will you forsake?
G.S.
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
Colossians 3:5-10 ESV
Questions to reflect:
1. What strikes me in this text?
2. How do I reconcile my earthly desires and what God desires for me?
3. How do I learn to love what God desires for me?
To Lose is Gain // Devotional 1.2 // Philippians 3:12-16
To Lose is Gain // Devotional 1.2 // Philippians 3:12-16
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”
Philippians 3:12-16 ESV
Questions to reflect:
1. What strikes me in this text?
2. Paul tells us to only hold true to what we have attained. What can that mean?
To Lose is Gain // Devotional 1.1 // Philippians 3:7-11
To Lose is Gain // Devotional 1.1 // Philippians 3:7-11
“To Lose Is Gain” is a rich, bold, and majestic statement. An end-goal that we all want for our lives. To live a legacy that embodies faith and complete surrender to our Heavenly Father. To recognize the wins and losses in our life while putting it all in proper perspective. To be convinced and sold for the Kingdom and everything it promises. As daunting and challenging it can be to arrive at that destination, it’s very important first to acknowledge where you are in your faith.
Being able to see where you are and ultimately where you feel like God wants you to be is the question in every believer’s life. Knowing what you value and treasure that can get in the way of that is what makes the difference. It can be frustrating to grow in your faith, to actively yield to the Spirit within you, and to actually see if you are progressing. But the paradox of our faith is that what feels like growth isn’t always up and what feels like a decline isn’t always down. What you begin to understand as you mature and walk with The Lord is that the moment you know you are much closer to God is the same moment you know you have yet know Him. It’s a cycle of death and resurrection that changes us from glory to glory. It’s what keeps us close when we feel like we are far.
L.A.
“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.”
Philippians 3:7-11 ESV
Questions to reflect:
1. What strikes me in this text?
2. What areas in my life do I value or see as “gains”? And, how have these “gains” affected my own faith?