Ah yes, it’s that time of the year when we make new year resolutions. This year I will get into shape and get out of debt. This year I spend more time with the family and less time at work. The list goes on and on.

While there may indeed be many noble resolutions made this year, the looming question that needs to be asked is this. What about a lifetime resolution? What about a resolution that has eternal value? The grave buries all earthly resolutions. Only one resolution will outlive the grave, and Paul puts it like this, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. There you have it, beloved.

In our last study for 2017, we are going to hear the apostle Paul sum up the Christian life this way; that I might know Him. Paul considered the best that he could attain religiously as dung compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

King David declared that he would not company with dissemblers; people who pretend to be following God, but in reality, the knowledge of God for a dissembler is like an appetizer at a restaurant or a trailer to a movie. Not too exciting, but it sets the appetite of their spirituality. Not so with those who are pursuing The Lord Jesus with all of their heart. Seek Christ for all that He is and because of all that He has done for you. Selah