Paul loved the members of the church he planted in the city of Philippi (see map). But there, too, other teachers followed him, selling the “gospel” of salvation by obeying ancient rituals. In answer, Paul wrote if we could save ourselves by religious performance, he’d be glad to put his record up against anyone. But those religious “assets” no longer mattered. He “wrote them off,” and trusted in Christ’s grace.

• Paul used an accounting metaphor. He listed all the spiritual “assets” the false teachers wanted the Philippian Christians to accumulate, and said he already owned every one of them. But he didn’t see them as “pluses” at all, not when compared to Jesus, his Savior and Lord. What human status symbols or accomplishments do you take the most pride in? How easy or hard is it for you to “write them off,” and to find your ultimate identity and confidence in your status as a child of God?
• Methodist scholar Maxie Dunnam wrote, “It is not the external things that count, but what has happened and is happening inside… Paul chose not to boast except about what Christ had done for him.” What has Christ done for you? In what ways has that reshaped your external behaviors, not so much by your own teeth-gritting effort, but as a change coming “from the inside out”?