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In Philippians chapter 3, Paul gives a full and glowing resume' of himself and all of his past accomplishments! It is a truly remarkable and interesting commentary of his past life. Paul (or rather Saul at that time) was on track to become one of the most powerful religious figures in Israel, until he had a meeting with someone very special named Jesus. If you remember the story in Acts 9, Saul was on his way to Damascus to continue his persecution of the church when Jesus revealed himself to Saul and totally stripped him of everything that he held valuable and important in his life. See... Jesus tends to do that! We often have accomplishments, dreams, jobs, plans, priorties, projects, or even people that we hold onto tightly becuase they "define" who we are. And while all of those things are not necessarily bad, they can begin to take our focus away from the one who is to be "the main one" of our life: Jesus Christ! Every aspect of our life is to be like the solar system. It is supposed to revolve around the "Sun"...yes play on word intended! :) When Saul had the experience with Jesus, his life radically changed as shown by his change of name from Saul to Paul. He was a new man with new accomplishments, dreams, jobs, plans, priorties, and so forth. All of that other stuff that could "define" him in the eyes of everybody else was of little importance to his new goal and desire. In fact, Paul viewed all of that "other stuff" as garbage when compared to Jesus Christ! Read Paul's new goal and desire in Philippians 3:7-14...

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and 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, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."

Paul said, "I am willing to give up everything if I can have Christ! I am willing to consider all that other stuff as worthless garbage if I can know Christ deeply! I am willing to be stripped of everything I held dear in order to achieve something far more precious: a deep, personal walk with Christ." 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ. I pray that this is truly our heart cry as well. I think it is fair to say that in this time of turbulence, social distancing, and quarantining, that some of us are being stripped of things that we hold dear. Maybe it is friends and loved ones. Maybe it is the security of finances right now. Maybe it is the crutch of getting together with other people. Maybe it is stripping you of the feeling of self-sufficency. Whatever it is, this time has forced us to re-evalute our accomplishments, dreams, jobs, plans, and priorities. It allows us to ask if they are all revolving around Jesus or if any of those things have become the "sun" of our life. If so, it is time to allow Christ to cast those aside for something far better: a deep, personal knowledge of Jesus! THAT I WOULD KNOW HIM!