I remember being asked recently, as I started out on a hike, would I like to take a walking stick with me. I poo-poo’ed the idea, thinking I was fit and athletic and I wouldn’t need an aide like a walking stick on my hike. Halfway through our hike, I started looking for sturdy limbs to use for a walking stick. I realized I was prideful at the start, thinking I could rely on self to have an enjoyable, successful hike. Hiking is taking careful steps, being sure of the terrain and a walking stick provides stability, whether going uphill or down. I realized my error and humbly admitted my mistake. I gladly accepted the walking stick that was handed to me.
In the same way, as we live our lives, under our own power, birthright, gifts, talents, abilities, we try the best we can to do good, live morally, and serve self and others. But is that enough? My search for God and His drawing me, opened my eyes to His truth. I do not have righteousness on my own and no amount of good works will put me in a right standing with God. The apostle Paul says the same thing in Philippians 3. He had the birthright, the education, the lineage, the religious title and when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he fell to his face, blinded by the light of Jesus. When he came to faith in Jesus Christ, He said he counted everything in his former life as rubbish. The only thing that mattered now was his life of faith in Jesus Christ and living a life of faith, looking to Jesus, the author and perfector of his faith, our faith.
Put aside your pride. Take hold of the free gift of salvation Jesus offers you today. Live a life of faith, growing and maturing in the knowledge of your Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:5-11 “I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!