Yes, now that I know Christ Jesus as my Lord, that is the most valuable thing. Nothing else is important at all. I have thrown everything else away, so that I can know Christ. All those other things are like dirt to me. I think about them like that, so that I can know Christ better. I want to be united with him. Because I believe in Christ, God accepts me as right with him. I know that I cannot become right in any other way, even if I obey all of God's Law. When I trust in Christ, God accepts me as right because of my faith.
Yes, I want to know Christ better and better. I want to know the power which God showed when Christ rose from death. I want to suffer in the way that Christ did. I want to obey God like he did in his death. Then I hope that I also will become alive again after death.
I am not saying that I have already reached that place in my life. I have not yet completely become the person that God wants me to be. But I am trying very hard to reach that place. That was Christ's purpose when he first chose me to belong to him. My Christian friends, I do not think that I have reached that place yet. But this is what I do. I do not think about past things that have already happened. Instead, I try hard to reach the things that are still in front. I am like a runner who wants to reach the end of the race. I run straight towards that place, so that I can win God's gift. Because I belong to Christ Jesus, God has called me to live with him in heaven. That is God's gift to me at the end of my life.
All of us should agree to live like that, if we properly understand God's message. If you think differently about some of these things, God will show you clearly what is right. But we should continue to live in the way that we already know is right.
Philippians 3:8-16