We are different. We belong to a family tree made up of people from every tribe, language, nation and people. We belong to this beautiful family that we call the holy, Christian church, the communion of saints. We come from the royal lineage of King Jesus. Yes, we are a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God; we are his special possession. And we have a glorious righteousness, a righteousness that is not our own, a righteousness and a holiness that is ours by faith in the Son of God. We are different, but not because of us. Rather, we are different because of HIM who is the way, the truth and the life. We are different because we belong to HIS family. We are part of HIS royal lineage. We have HIS righteousness as our own. We, dear people of God, are different.
This means that we assign a different value to the things in our life. We learn to see the things in our lives as gifts of God. We learn to rejoice in those gifts of God. But those are not the things that are the most valuable. We assign a different value to the things in our lives; we find true value in who we are as sons and daughters of the one true King. Today, we’re continuing to work with this theme “different.” This week we see that the Christian has a different goal, a different pursuit, even a different destiny. This is where Paul help us as we continue our way through chapter 3. Philippians 3:12-4:1
