Read
Philippians 3:7-15.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,[e] the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ[f] and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;[g] but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved,[h] I do not consider that I have made it my own;[i] but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly[j] call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you.
Another change is beginning, Lord. We want the change to find us responding in a way that honors you.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,[e] the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ[f] and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;[g] but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved,[h] I do not consider that I have made it my own;[i] but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly[j] call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you.
Another change is beginning, Lord. We want the change to find us responding in a way that honors you.
We
are grateful that every change pushes us to remember that our lives, within their
continuity, are a series of endings and beginnings. The page written yesterday
does not necessarily determine the page we write today.
We
need to leave behind us those things that have taught us what we needed to
learn. Help us to put away whatever happened in the past few years of our
relationships that, if we carry them with us, will make it more difficult to
live as we would like to live it.
You
have promised to forgive the sins we are honest enough to face, and the sins we
would be willing to face if we knew what they were. You accept and understand
the times when things go wrong, especially when we lack the wisdom and skill it
would take to make them go right.
Let
us do what you want us to do and what we need to do. We need to enter this
change in our lives feeling clean, fresh, and blessed, capable of change and
growth, capable of courage and joy.
Watch
over each of us with your love and grace.
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