IBS Application for Philippians 3:11

“...that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

I order to be made alive and stay alive, something must first die. For us, we have to die to self before we can have life. Paul understood this. Of course, he is speaking about actually physical death and the resurrection that God has promised to those who walk in Christ. But he also understood that to have this, we have to understand Christ’s suffering and the power of His death, as we saw in the previous verse.

Paul made it point to realize that the old life he lived, the old man he used to be, had to be put to death daily. Otherwise, he’d be operating in his own flesh as he used to. And as we learned in the previous verses from this passage, he had learned that none of those “good works” were counted to him as righteousness, but ultimately as filthy rags before the Lord.

Paul said that “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” When we crucify our old selves with Christ, our past sin goes into the grave with Him and stays there, but we are resurrected with Christ as new men and new creations. We are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to the righteousness of Christ that has been poured out on us. Living in Christ means dying to self first.

We have true life in Christ after dying to our sinful selves. No death after that can have an effect on us forever after this point. We will still die a physical death, as it is our due portion from living in sin, but now that we are alive in Christ, not even physical death will have a hold on us!


My application for this verse will be to meditate more on how much I need to die to myself. This is something God showed me yesterday, and I need to take it to heart. So, I will spend time in prayer for the next three days laying my life down before Jesus so that I can receive the grace and righteousness He has for me each day, that I too might attain the resurrection from the dead and be the new creation He’s called me to be.

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