Dominos

Blog » Dominos

Friday, July 19, 2013      Nick Cirino

Philippians 3:8-11 are like dominos. We’ve all seen dominos stood up in a line. When you knock over the first domino, it triggers in turn all the other dominos. Phil. 3:8-11 works in a similar way:

 Domino 1

     · 8 For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish,

Domino 2

     · in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my
       own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the
       righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Domino 3

     · 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings,
        becoming like him in his death,
Domino 4

     · 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  The first
       domino is that Paul counts all things loss. He pushes that domino over in order to knock
       over the second domino: I counted all things loss in order that I may gain Christ
       (justification). 

That second domino knocks down the third: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffers (sanctification). 

The third domino leads to the last domino: our final resurrection (glorification, see Phil. 3:21). 

This is the journey of the Christian life. We abandon saving ourselves in order that we may be justified. Once we are declared righteous before God, then we work that reality out into our lives (sanctification). The process will one day culminate in our resurrection from the dead and being made perfect in the presence of God forever. This is the Christian journey. 

Photo from: flickr.com/photos/cav666/4335615871/

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