DAILY READING
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14

You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:7-10

QUESTIONS
In what ways is your past holding you back from having contentment in your life today?

How can you leave the old baggage behind and move towards the source of true contentment found in Jesus?

DAILY READING
What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing

worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all

things […] I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his

resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his

death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:8;10

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his

Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so

loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen

God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made

complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us:

He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the

87The Secret of Being Content

Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone

acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they

in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
1 John 4:7-16

QUESTION
Have you ever been motivated to participate in Jesus's work for the

wrong reasons (e.g., fear, guilt, or proving yourself)? How can you find a

better way to engage in the work God invites you to?

DAILY READING
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:19-21

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

QUESTIONS
How can you keep your mind away from “earthly things”?
What does that even mean?

How can you live as citizens of Heaven today?