May 30: What is of infinite value?

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!  (Philippians 3:7-11 — New Living Translation)

Paul the apostle wrote this. Before he was converted to the Lord Jesus he had been a leader of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of the Jewish religion. He had also been the main persecutor of Christians — imprisoning them, killing their leaders, and trying his best to destroy the church of Jesus Christ. But after he became a Christian, his life was completely changed. The things that were important to him before — his high position among the Pharisees, his pride in keeping all the traditions and requirements of the law, his birth as a Jew and strict upbringing — were now nothing to him. Now he knew the greatest thing in all the world was to know Jesus, and to be seen as righteous by faith in Him. He wanted to know God better, to know the power of Jesus in his life, to suffer for Him whenever necessary, and to experience the glorious resurrection from the dead at Jesus’ coming.

You feel the same way when you are truly converted to the Lord Jesus. Some things that used to be important are like filth to you now. Your whole life has been turned around. God has helped you see who you are and what reality is; you are no longer blinded and deceived. Now you are living for Jesus and in Him you are completely accepted by God. You are righteous through faith and an heir of eternal life and the resurrection from the dead.

Unless we regard everything else in life as garbage when compared to the Lord Jesus, or as some other versions of the Bible put it — filth or dog dung — we will be unable to experience His power or to become one with Him. We will be unable to… It’s impossible to have two masters. You will end up pleasing one and making the other angry, or vice versa. It’s also impossible to be a good husband or wife when you have a lover on the side, or an addiction. Being one with Jesus demands extreme devotion, a foreign, old-fashioned concept to many today, and yet one that worked wonderfully for the apostle Paul. — Meditate on this verse and ask the Holy spirit to make it a reality in your life.