- so that none would boast -
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to realize our true blessings. The things we are thankful for can be a variety of things. For example, if you are in my shoes I am thankful for my supportive family and the various expressions of support. I am thankful for my friends. They are few but the ones I have are very dear to me and we share a love that reaches beyond mere friendship. I am thankful for my church. For my congregation that is supportive and God seeking. Their hunger for the Gospel strengthens me. I am thankful for all my kids at the church who never fail to surprise me with new and exciting ways of sometimes getting in trouble. I am thankful for my dear friends William and Zac and their families who are my partners in ministry and my support group. I am thankful for my dog because living alone is hard and having a companion even though he doesn't talk is helpful. And then I am thankful for my education, car, food, etc... I know all this seems sappy and not relevant to you the reader but I can not stress the importance of this next part enough. Of all these things that I am thankful for I would rather lose all of it than ever be without my faith, hope, and love in Christ. Paul puts it this way:
"We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."
"We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."
Philippians 3:3-14
If we are to boast then let us boast in the cross and in things of God. Let our preferences die with our worldly selves. Let our immaturity dissipate with the morning fog. Let our anger be checked and our hate be replaced with love. But most of all, let our pride and our boasts wither away like a branch removed from a vine.