Purpose in Christ

8 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 9 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; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His

sufferings, being conformed to His death,

11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:8-11 NKJV

Nothing might rock your sense of purpose like sitting incarcerated in a dingy jail, but that’s exactly where Paul

wrote the letter to the Philippians. It’s an interesting book if you think about the seemingly inverse relationship

between one’s poor circumstances and yet the call to live in joy.

In today’s verses, Paul wrote in reference not to the negatives of his past, but rather, the positives. Those things that

might fill a wall with “moral trophies” were exactly the sort of things he considered as loss, as rubbish (better

translated dung). It’s hard to not draw the connection here that human achievements by and large are often not

simply the pursuit of a goal, but perhaps even more so, the pursuit of purpose. What do I have to show for my life?

What did I accomplish? These are often touchstones by which we gauge in retrospect what our purpose was.

Paul is showing us here that deep meaning in his own life came not from his own efforts towards righteousness, but

rather from abandoning them in favor of the only righteousness that will count before God, which is the

righteousness of Christ. While it might seem that this passage is merely reflecting where one finds their

righteousness, I believe it goes further by pointing us to a strong reason for living, and that is to know Christ, and

not merely to know about Christ. It is to love Christ, not just talk about loving Him. It is to pursue Him and to be

enamored with Him rather than to be captivated with those moral efforts of our own in an attempt to console our

conscience. At the end of the day, there is no amount of moral goodness in and of ourselves that will ever leave us

anywhere more than wishful and yet insecure.

Let’s consider what Paul is challenging us here to do, though. Number one, don’t use your human achievements to

sell you on your purpose in this world or your goodness before God, because they won’t and they can’t. Don’t

create a vacuum, though, because it’s one thing to not find your purpose in human righteousness, but another to not

find it in Christ. Paul didn’t merely say, I don’t find my righteousness in myself; no, he pointed to Jesus to both

himself and others.

That, my friend, is number two: seek Jesus, be found in Jesus, establish your identity in Him. Purpose is deeply

attached to identity, so where we seek to find identity, we are often seeking to find purpose. Rather than trying to

create your identity, or determine it at your own whim, Scripture is calling you back to this: find your identity in

Jesus, because you already have one in Him if you are one of His. Grasping the grace of God will help us to

acknowledge our unworthiness before Him while also clinging to Jesus as more than enough.

Would you like to have joy today in your purpose? Put down the mirror and pick up a Bible, and look at Him, not at

yourself. When you do look at yourself, make sure you are seeing who you are and why you’re here through the

lens of Scripture. It’s often as simple as setting this concept in place on a daily basis that can make a big difference.

God be with you, and may you rest in His grace and move forth in faith, daring to be “braver than lions.”

Sam Stringer

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.