Reject Religious Rubbish (Philippians 3:7-11)

Religion. A set of rules. Steps to being right, developing your own righteousness. These things have great appeal. It is far more attractive to do something on our terms, in our strength and at our pace than to trust someone else. It is akin to being trapped in a burning building, at a window high above the ground in an upper floor. We would all want to find a safe way out of the building. We would wish for a fire escape or a means to climb down in safety. The last thing we would want to do is simply jump, counting on someone else to catch us. We detest helplessness, dependence.

 Paul had everything that one would want for security and good standing in the religious society of his day. In culture, he was seen as a good—a righteous—man. Yet he considered all of that garbage. It was merely glamour. He gladly gave it all up in order to obtain real security, a real good standing. It turns out that all of that religious rubbish, that glamorous garbage, is an obstacle. It keeps one from living a real life.

We all work so hard to meet some fabricated standard of goodness when we actually need to simply surrender to another. Rather than work to approximate a life the way we were intended to live, we need to surrender to the One who can truly give us that life.