8 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,
9 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:
Every time I read this passage it stands out to me that Paul was a great leader among the Jews before his conversion. That, however, was not true gain; it was nothing. Paul even compares those accomplishments to dung.
This tells me that even though we may reach a great status in the world, even in religious realms, it is nothing without the righteousness of God. Jesus requires each of us to take everything we have done in this life in the flesh and put it behind us and take it out of our focus; for us to realize, on a conscious level, that what we are does not consist of our accomplishments and our experience, but of how completely we have let Jesus Christ accomplish His will through us. God wants to take "our vile body" and use it to accomplish goals for which only He can have the glory.
We press for that mark by pursuing His perfect will in lieu of our own status and accomplishments. His way is better.
Brad Hoff
