Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
Philippians 4:1 ESV
Paul’s paradoxical process of progress:
-Look for the good, overlook the bad.-Count your blessings, discount your losses.
-Inject possibility, reject your impossibility.
Paul’s paradox of the practical, everyday process of progress is _upside down_ and _inside out_.
Really Paul??!!
How does Paul get clarity over confusion, Godly perspective over the false sense of worldly progress and consistency over comfort.
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Philippians 3:7 KJV
Question:
Do you feel you are growing in Christ today?
Answer:
If you are growing and maturing in faith, then you are losing that sense of earthly security in the things you have trusted outside of Him.
1). What seems is the most important is often the _Least Impressive_.
Philippians 3:7–11 (ESV)
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order 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 comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:12–16 (ESV)
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
3). What you are searching for is already provided for.
The Key to this paradox of process to progress is Christ in you!!