Saturday, April 9 – Lent 2022

Phillipians 3:4b-14

Author: Matthew Hyatt

Reflection: v. 7, ‘whatever gains I had, I have come to regard as loss’

This passage talks about how Paul once considered his many titles and status from society to be high praise and worthy of note. He was proud of these accomplishments and had achieved what most folks would call success. However, he had now come to consider all of these status markers and accomplishments to be wasted effort. This is because he found his faith in Christ and realized that his faith in Christ was more important than all the titles and positions he could have gotten elsewhere in the world. This is an important lesson for us to learn and apply in our lives as well. We should all feel empowered to take our faith in Christ and find what matters to us in our life. As Paul notes, he still has a way to go on his journey and just because he found fulfillment in his faith, that does not mean that his life became measurably easier. When we find what matters to us, we will also have to put in work to keep and expand what is important to us, just as Paul had taken up the work to expand and guide the early Christian communities. I know from personal experience that working toward something that is important to me makes me feel happier and more productive working on it, even if the work is harder or more complicated. As we move forward let’s try to learn from Paul’s experience. Let us try to find what gives meaning and fulfillment in our lives. Let us then take those things and treasure and work to expand them.

Prayer Guide and empower us, God, to find fulfillment in our journeys with you.

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