Philippians 3:8-14

For Reading and Meditation:     Galatians 6:1-18

Whenever I hear a person saying that all religions are the same, my mind runs immediately to the cross. If what is found here is true (and I believe it is), and represents the meaning of life, then clearly all religions are not the same. No authentic note of divine self-sacrifice comes from other faiths. The cross...

The aim of men in general is to make a fortune, enjoy the world, and live respectably; the aim of the believer is to win Christ. Jesus possesses all he desires, and to possess Christ would satisfy every wish.

We have now a title to Him, we receive much from Him, and we often enjoy His love; but we want to be present with Him, and to have full possession of Him as our everlasting All. He is set before us as our mark, He is held out as the prize, and is promised...

TO be in Christ, is to be united to Him by faith and love; and it is of the utmost importance. Apart from Christ we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; united to Christ, we are immensely rich; immutably safe; exalted to the highest honour; and shall appear without a fault before the throne of God. If we are in Christ, or one with Christ, we are justified by His obedience, as the debtor is cleared by the payment made by his surety; we are sanctified through Him, as the vessel is...

This righteousness is by faith; it is the office of faith to receive it; plead it; trust it; rejoice in it; embolden the soul through it: and clothe the soul in it; it is not offered to anything but faith, nor can it be received, and enjoyed in any other way.

Every unbeliever and self-righteous person rejects it, but every man who is taught of God feels that he needs it; discovers the beauty, glory, and value of it; applies for it with ardent desire and earnest longing; embraces it as...

The doctrine of a risen Saviour is exceedingly precious. The resurrection is the corner-stone of the entire building of Christianity. It is the key-stone of the arch of our salvation. It would take a volume to set forth all the streams of living water which flow from this one sacred source, the resurrection of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; but to know that he has risen, and to have fellowship with him as such-communing with the risen Saviour by possessing a risen life-seeing him...

Spiritual knowledge of Christ will be a personal knowledge. I cannot know Jesus through another person's acquaintance with him. No, I must know him myself; I must know him on my own account. It will be an intelligent knowledge-I must know him, not as the visionary dreams of him, but as the Word reveals him. I must know his natures, divine and human. I must know his offices-his attributes-his works-his shame-his glory. I must meditate upon him until I "comprehend with all saints what is the...

Just as Abraham's servant had a sense of urgency in connection with his mission, so should we. This does not mean we must race around in all directions at once. It does not mean that we must do everything in nervous haste. But it does mean that we should give ourselves to the task before us as a matter of top priority.

We should adopt the attitude expressed in Robert Frost's lines:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before...

In yesterday's study we saw that our conduct should correspond to our creed. But in order to balance the subject we must add two postscripts.

First, we have to acknowledge that we will never fully and completely live out the truth of God as long as we are in this world. After we have done our best, we still have to say that we are unprofitable servants. But we must not use this fact to excuse failure or even mediocrity: our obligation is to continually try to close the gap between our...

It is always eminently fine when a believer makes great renunciations for Jesus' sake. Here is a man whose talents have brought him wealth and fame, yet in obedience to the divine call, he lays them at the Saviors feet. Or a woman whose voice has opened doors to the world's great concert halls. But now she feels she must live for another world, so she gives up her career to follow Christ. After all, what are reputation or fortune or earthly distinctions when compared to the incomparable gain...

The Apostle Paul did not think that he had arrived, and neither should we. We are all in need of change. Liu Shao-chi said, "Men should regard themselves as being in need of and capable of being changed. They should not look upon themselves as something unchanging, perfect, holy, and beyond reform… Otherwise men cannot make progress."

The trouble is that most of us resist change in ourselves. We are desperately anxious to see others change. Their personality quirks annoy us and we wish...