Righteousness through faith

Philippians
 I have copied below a passage from today's reading in Philippians.  It is a powerful passage because of the strength of the language Paul uses to describe worldly accoutrements versus heavenly treasures.  It really puts life into perspective, for me.  Consider the verses below and just see what you can learn from them. 

Phil 3:7-11: "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.


*I included verses 10 and 11 even though they are in tomorrow's reading simply because you can't stop at verse 9!

Counting the fighting men

Key verse
Mark 16:6 - “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him."


2 Samuel
In today's reading in 2 Samuel 24, David counted the number of men in his army.  He did this because God was angry with the Israelites, 'and he incited David against them.'  I see this act of David's as a lack of trust in God.  He needed to know exactly what position he could hold against his enemies, rather than relying on God to come through for him regardless of the situation.
I think we can learn from this situation and realize that in our own lives, we don't need to know exactly what's going on.  For example, we don't need to count our pennies and stay rigidly within certain guidelines; we should have the freedom to rest in God's provision for our needs.  Instead of restraining yourself from something God may want you to do, go forward in faith, even if it may not seem that you're equipped for it right away.

Mary and Mary and the resurrection

Matthew
When the angel of the Lord came down to roll the stone away from the tomb, the guards were so scared, they "became like dead men".  That must have been a sight!  And yet, the two women, Mary and Mary, although afraid, were completely receptive to the angel's message and hurried off to tell the disciples of the good news about Jesus's resurrection.  Perhaps the spirit of God resonated within them and helped them believe these almost outrageous news.  As they were running to the disciples, Jesus himself appeared to them.  I wonder if he did so just to reinforce the truth of the message.  I'm impressed by these women.  We aren't privy to the entire story or all the details, but they really seem to have it together during this supernatural experience.

The resurrection

Peter talks about the resurrection of Jesus in his speech to the large crowd in Acts 2.  I just read about this passage in a commentary by William Barclay.  Barclay wrote that the resurrection was at the heart of the "early preachers' sermons" because that was what the Christian life was all about.  As a Christian, I know this to be true, but somehow, it's so easy to get caught up in Jesus' birth (especially at this time of year) and his life's ministry.  In the end though, none of that would be worth anything, except in light of the fact that he conquered death.  Because Jesus came back to life, the rest of his actions mean something.  The resurrection is the central point of Christian faith.  Without it, we have nothing.  Thankfully, God did send his son as a baby who was meant to die for us, but not only that - to come back to life!  That's why Christmas means anything at all, because Jesus was born to die... and then live.