TUESDAY, February 16

Philippians 3:1-11. I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Can Paul be serious in advising us to regard everything we have as so much rubbish to be lost? Our whole world seems to orbit from the energy generated by those who avoid loss at all costs. For many, it is their reason to live. But Paul understands that a relationship with Christ Jesus surpasses all earthly things.

We do much better remembering our baptismal vows. Reinhold Niebuhr, a great theologian of the twentieth century, puts it well:

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we are saved by hope.

Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we are saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own; therefore, we are saved by the final form of love--which is forgiveness.

(2005)

PRAY for the Diocese of Banks and Torres (Melanesia)

Ps 26, 28 * 36, 39; Proverbs 30:1-4, 24-33; John 18:28-38

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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