Gospel Reflections #867: What is your experience?

Philippians 3:10 "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,"

No matter what we do or how hard we try, we cannot save ourselves by our own strength.

As Philippians 3:9 states, it is not through our own righteousness based on the law, but through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith—that we come to find ourselves in Christ.

To do this, we must understand what Christ has done for us personally and what He will do for us.

From his own experience, Paul trusted in the Lord's power, which could even save someone like himself who had persecuted the church of Christ.

For Paul, nothing held equal value to the gift of the knowledge of Christ.

We too have been given the gift of the knowledge of Christ.

How we use it depends on each of our choices.

Our faith grows through our individual experiences.

These experiences depend on how we use the gift of the knowledge of Christ.

Paul was given the experience of a complete reversal precisely because he studied the Savior in his own way and earnestly desired to know the Savior's grace experientially.

We cannot savor experience without knowledge, nor can we be certain of knowledge without experience.

God prepares the necessary knowledge and experience for each one of us.

Let us boldly receive it and fully savor it.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.