The Importance of Christians ever Growing in Spiritual Maturity by Continually Delving Deeper into the Knowledge of Christ!

07 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Philippians 3:14.           I press toward the mark (goal) for the prize of the high (upward) calling of God in Christ.

And then it was Friday, a somewhat cool and cloudy day, with expectations of rain, but that did stop us from shouting out: ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday!’ Yes friends, it is Friday and the weekend’s here with the promise of some rest relaxation and partying. Let’s hope that we get more of the first two and less of the latter, you know why. (smile) 

And what’s on the agenda for today? I believe it’s talking about the high calling of God, as Bruh Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. In the 3rd chapter, he says: ‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung (rubbish), that I may win Christ. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is of God by faith.’ (Phil. 3:8-9) 

The long and short of the story is that Bruh Paul gives up all his past heritage, education and privileges, counting them as not important in comparison to knowing Christ. And to ‘win Christ,’ the scholars tell us, he had to give up all his religious credentials, all his own efforts and accomplishments so that he could believe and be saved, so that the Lord could impute him with the divine righteousness that’s imputed to the converted sinner because of their faith in Christ. And he wants to know Christ so badly, that he declares: ‘That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;’ (Phil. 3:10) 

Ah mih people, I wonder how many of us desire to know Christ so deeply, that we might both experience His resurrection power and share in His sufferings, and thus be more conformed to His death? Not too many of us, I dare say. (smile) And according to the scholars, ‘Paul wants “the righteousness …of God” (vs.9), so that he can obtain a personal relationship with Jesus in actual day-to-day experience. This knowledge of Christ is obtained by experiencing in daily problems, needs, ministry, and so forth, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. 

Knowing Christ also entails participating in His sufferings. Paul desires to share in the Lord’s sufferings because they bring him into a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Him; companionship in sorrow establishes the most intimate and lasting of ties, as afflicted hearts cling to each other.’ And that’s an awesome truth as many of us know from our personal sufferings with others. A bond much stronger and long lasting is developed between those who share tragedies. 

And the important thing to note here is that Bruh Paul doesn’t believe He’s come to the point of conforming to the life he desires in Christ as yet, which is to know Christ to such an extent, experiencing His power, sharing His sufferings, being made like Him in death, and experiencing resurrection from the dead. The scholars tell us; ‘At this point in his life the apostle does know Christ, but not to the full extent possible. He has experienced His power, but not to the degree he desires. He has been made like Jesus in His death, but he can die still more to sin and self. He does “walk in newness of life,” but there is room for improvement. And unlike the perfectionists who claim to be sinless in this life, Paul admits that he is not. If the chief of the apostles does not feel he has “arrived” spiritually, then neither should we.’ 

And that’s a very good suggestion. (smile) But then, to add to all of that, Bruh Paul says: ‘Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended (laid hold of it): but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth (forward) unto those things which are before (ahead), I press toward the mark (goal) for the prize of the high (upward) calling of God in Christ.’  (Phil. 3:13-14) Now there’s an interesting and very legitimate goal for us to pursue! It won’t be easy, and it will take plenty belly and backbone, but with God’s help we can certainly achieve it. 

And the scholars offer these explanations. ‘In ever pursuing his goal to know Christ (vs. 10) Paul refuses to let past guilt pull him down, or to rest on past laurels. Either could spell spiritual disaster.’  And that’s something we should also pay close attention to in the attainment of our own goal of knowing Christ. Guilt and past successes can easily derail our stated purpose. Then the scholars acknowledge: ‘The mark is the objective of verses 10 and 11 (i.e., knowing Christ). The prize is the joyful personal satisfaction of having attained it, as well as the divine commendation and reward to be granted in heaven for having reached this goal on earth. The high calling of God is the divine summons extended to the believer for salvation.’ 

And yes, it’s heavy stuff, but if we want to grow in spiritual maturity, thereby growing in Christ, then we need to delve deep into the harder and more difficult stuff, start eating meat and solid foods, stop drinking only milk. And we can certainly do it if we make up our minds to do so. Especially with divine aid that can now be gotten directly from the throne of grace. So let’s go there right now through our Friday Chant asking for help in time of need. 

Altogether: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough… because our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving. And it’s obvious we can’t fix them on our own, so Lord, we’re desperately crying out for your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. We therefore ask you Lord to give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly. And please help the rest of us to be responsible and to stay safe amidst all the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times. 

We fervently pray too Lord that you’ll use the discontent and dissatisfaction in our land as a means of restoring faith in you. Return backsliders to your fold. Show them the error of their ways. And please introduce a new flock of believers, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

Oh friends, our prayer was heartfelt, but I doubt we will receive much divine aid, if any, because our Christian witness is simply not good enough. That means we have to improve it, if we want divine aid. So please, let’s concentrate on doing that nuh. Much LOVE!

…seeking the deeper things of Christ…ought to be every Christian’s goal…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 13 July 2019 Matthew 13:57.

13 Jul 2019 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Matthew 13:57.    ​A prophet is not without honour, save (except) in his own country, and in his own house.
 

Oh my people, you’ll notice that the Bit is rather early today. (smile) That’s because I went to bed fairly early last night, slept through the night and got up early this morning! Brother! No fun in that at all. (smile) Neither was there any fun in what was supposed to be my last radiation treatment yesterday…

Steups! What a fiasco! Especially since I had a whole entourage (smile) (3 people) there to witness and record the end circumstances for posterity. Chuh man! But I guess it just wasn’t in the Lord’s plan for me yesterday, possibly because I was too vociferous and boastful early on in the Bit. Who knows? 

But everything that could go wrong went wrong; with both bowels and bladder, so we had to cancel the last treatment until Monday. But what yuh going to do eh? If that’s the Lord’s will, then you just have to grin and bear it. Anyway, it’s Saturday, so let’s turn to the quotes that our friend Anselm sent us this week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. 

And the first one says: ‘Don’t find the fault, find the remedy.’ Now I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here (smile) by asking, if there’s no fault, then how can there be a remedy eh? But most likely he means that so many of us like to complain and find fault, that instead of always focusing on the problem, we should more often focus on the solution to the problem. 

And that’s the gospel truth, especially in this feeble and fragile world of today that’s littered with more complaints than anything else. We complain about everything, find fault with everything, and are never satisfied, even when we get what we asked for. But that’s just the world eh friends, not we believers in Christ…Hn! I wish! 

Now the next one is similar to the first: ‘The goal of an effective leader is to recondition your team, to be solution focused and not problem focused.’ The same thing applies here, except to leaders. They must be focused on finding solutions, not dwelling on problems, because as they go, so will their followers. So if a leader is always harping on the problems, more likely than not the followers will be doing the same, and no organization can grow and thrive unless they are all looking to the positive side of the ledger. 

And the third quote tells us: ‘To handle yourself, use you head; to handle others, use your heart.’ I’m not sure I understand what he means there, but I’m supposing that in looking after your own interests, you should use your head, head knowledge and wisdom, but in dealing with others, it should all come from your heart, in a godly and generous manner. 

Now if that’s what he means, then there is a fair amount of truth in it, but please friends, in this greedy, deceitful and fraudulent world, we can’t always let out godly hearts and intentions run away with us, since people are liable to take serious advantage of the goodness of our nature. 

The world’s not as trustworthy as it once was, and contracts and agreements nowadays are meant to be broken. There is always some fine writing that you never look at that let’s them off the hook. So please make sure that your head is looking out for your heart. 

And the last quote tells us: ‘Great things never came from comfort zones.’ And that’s the living truth! No one who’s ever done great things has ever done it comfortably sitting in their living rooms. They always had to go out on a limb, take a risk, face disappointment and seeming failure, as well as condemnation from friends and families. 

Just read the stories of people like Thomas Edison, who gave us the light bulb; Walt Disney, who was touted as failure in his early years, but look at what he created. And look at Henry Ford. Yuh think he had it easy building his cars. Not on your life. But the greatest example of them all is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! 

Just look at how he moved from being the God and creator of this world to being a humble, lowly man, born in a manger, not even a palace, but a smelly animal barn. Then grew up as a carpenter, and no, he didn’t have all the power tools that we have today, so it was hard, physical labour all the way. 

Then when He began His ministry, it was as an itinerant preacher, as He told the scribe who wanted to follow Him. “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.’ (Matt.8:20) Not only didn’t He have a permanent place of residence, but He was also mocked and scorned by those around Him, the very ones he had come to save. Even His family didn’t believe in Him. 

And yuh see how they treated Him in His own hometown of Nazareth after He read the scripture from Isaiah and intimated that it related to Him. They all got hot and bothered thinking that the carpenter’s son, whom they all knew growing up was getting a bit uppity, taking such airs and graces upon Himself and tried to throw him off a cliff. ‘But He passing through the midst of them went on his way.’ (Luke 4:16-30) 

And it was in His own hometown of Nazareth that Jesus mouthed these words of immortal truth. ‘A prophet is not without honour, save (except) in his own country, and in his own house.’ How true that is my fellow saints in Christ. Many a great person has been looked on with disfavour by those close to them. And strangely enough, Nazareth was one of the very few places that Jesus did no miracles or mighty works, simply because of their unbelief. 

And we don’t have time to talk about all the unfair, and unjust ‘sufferation’ that Jesus endured so that He could build the greatest body, the most powerful organization the world has ever seen, the Christian church, which has lasted for over two thousand years, and is set down to last until eternity. 

So friends, if we want to do great things, we can’t only sit down and talk about them, we have to get up off of our comfortable fannies and put in the blood, sweat and tears required of every great and or lasting achievement; just like Christ did! And please note, He did it all on our behalf. 

He didn’t have to, but the Father asked, and being the obedient Son that He was, He got up off His comfortable rear end in heaven and came down to the hellhole we call earth and selflessly and sacrificially suffered to atone for our abominable sins and bring us into reconciliation with the Father. Now that is indeed the greatest deed ever done on this earth! Please acknowledge and respect it like you ought to. Much LOVE!

…doing great and worthwhile stuff…requires…great and worthwhile effort…