Joy in the Journey

What if the very thing we think makes us righteous is actually keeping us from God? This exploration of Philippians 3 confronts us with a startling truth: our greatest obstacle isn’t our obvious sins, but our self-righteousness. Paul, the ultimate religious overachiever with an impeccable spiritual resume, discovered that everything he counted as gain was actually garbage compared to knowing Christ. We learn that righteousness — being made right before God — is our deepest need, yet we cannot achieve it through performance, religious activity, or moral excellence. The scandal of the gospel isn’t that God accepts sinners; it’s that He rejects our attempts to earn His favor. Many of us live as functional Pharisees, presenting our resume of good deeds to God when circumstances go wrong, asking why He isn’t rewarding our faithfulness. But the Christian life isn’t about replacing a secular checklist with a spiritual one. It’s about receiving Christ’s perfect righteousness as a gift and then becoming who we already are in Him.