Daily Direction Reading PlanSample

Bill Longley lived in Texas back in the 19th century. He murdered 32 people during his lifetime, and boasted of how good he was at escaping the law. But the law caught him, tried him, and hanged him. Some arrogant people will stop at nothing to satisfy their egotistical drive. In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul referred to a group of proud false teachers. They followed him around, insisting that unless people underwent circumcision, God would not save them. Paul's message was that because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, God saves people based on their faith in Him. To answer these false teachers and build up the believers, Paul pointed out the insufficiency of his own religious background. He said, "I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pureblooded citizen of Israel, and I am a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strict obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault." That was proud Paul—self-centered, ambitious, and on his way up in his religion—until He met Jesus. Christ changed his life. His new ambition was to know Christ intimately and to make him known to as many people as possible. That is a worthy goal, not just for Paul, but for us as well.