Found

 October 9, 2024

I think it’s time to once again quote the entire paragraph in Philippians, so that we don’t lose sight of the context for the things that are on my mind.

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” —Philippians 3:7-10 

Today I am thinking about the phrase “be found in him.” It’s an odd way of putting things. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he speaks repeatedly of being “in Christ,” and if we are already there, what does he mean by wanting to be “found” in him?

I don’t think Paul here is speaking of God somehow finding him in Christ. I think Paul is wanting those around him to see how being in Christ transforms a man’s life. Paul spells it out: he’s no longer scrabbling to follow the law to the letter, becoming in the process a critical, judgmental shell of a man. Instead, by being in Christ, already redeemed, he is free to love and serve selflessly. He wants people to see this, to “be found (by others) in Christ.” 

That’s a pretty good goal, one I am pressing into; one I hope you are pressing into, too.