“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Phil 3:10-11; KJV).

Theses verses show Paul’s heart, his life motivation. Paul’s sole motivation was to know Christ; not to know about him but to know him. Paul desired to be like Christ in dying to self and sin and living to eternal life. He counted it gain to suffer for Christ as this reflected his complete identification with Jesus.

In an earlier verse in Philippians Chapter 3 (V8), Paul looked back at his earlier life without Jesus and counted it as loss, rubbish; compared to knowing Christ in an intimate, dynamic and life changing relationship. The word rubbish can be translated dung, showing how emphatic Paul was in making his point.

Paul went on to say that he didn’t look back but pressed on to follow the call of Jesus, (v12-13) to come closer and higher in relationship with him (Jesus) and to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection (v10). Paul had a heavenly or eternal perspective while he ministered powerfully and effectively on this earth in the anointing of God. Wow, that’s what I want. Let’s press in but remember not to get condemned as Paul said, when he wrote this epistle, that he had not arrived (v13) but was determined to press in (14).

Please pass this on.