Thursday: Just One Thing—Knowing Christ
Daily Lesson for Thursday 5th of February 2026
Read Philippians 3:10-16. What are some of the main points Paul makes in this passage?
Surely there is nothing more important than knowing Christ, which guarantees in the end that He will know us and acknowledge us before the Father (see Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 10:32-33). How do we know Him? Through His Written Word—reading it and living it. We cannot know Him face-to-face as the disciples did. But interestingly, despite that knowledge, they still failed to comprehend His words, underscoring our need of the Holy Spirit to guide us (see John 16:13). The more we know Him, the closer we come to Him, because we experience “the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10), which raises us to “newness of life” (Romans 6:4, NKJV).
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
Another way we come closer to Jesus is through “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10, NKJV). Every trial faced, every painful experience borne, helps us to know and appreciate more what Jesus went through for us, and also to understand Him and His will more clearly.
A third way we come closer is by pressing onward “toward the goal” (Philippians 3:14, NKJV). What is that goal? It translates a word used only here in the New Testament (skopos). It refers to the finish line of a race and the prize awarded the victor. Paul calls it “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14, NKJV). Just as Christ, through His death and resurrection, ascended upward to heaven, God invites us to receive the same heavenly reward—eternal life.
Obviously, we have not attained that yet. We will not be perfected in the fullest sense until our “lowly body” is transformed “that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21, NKJV). But by knowing Him and inviting His presence into our lives every day, we press on toward the goal of being like Jesus in every way possible now. This is the “one thing” Paul focused on, too. Just like running a race (see 1 Corinthians 9:24-27), we pay no attention to where we’ve been or who trails us. Our single focus is on the things that lie ahead—that heavenly prize that awaits us. The image here is vivid: a runner’s full focus on the goal, straining every muscle and leaning forward to reach the finish line.
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Why, in your walk with the Lord, is it so important not to keep looking back, at least back at your sins and failures, but instead to look ahead to what you have been promised right now in Christ? |
“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” (Philippians 3: 10-11, NLT).
Paul was a very courageous man. His intentions were packed with actions and conviction. He made a bold resolution to make Jesus all and all him. This was not a casual declaration, but to him it was a matter of life and death. One who once persecuted Christians had become the strongest defender of the Christian faith. His encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road brought a total transformation in his nature. This episode tells us that knowing Jesus Christ requires a personal encounter with Him. Unless we are transformed by divine power, our human effort to know Jesus will always be in vain. There are a few lessons to emulate from Paul in knowing Jesus more and more:
1. We have surrender to Jesus all aspects of our lives and make Him the Lord of our lives.
2. We must re-evaluate our value system. We need to examine what we call “gain”.
3. We must make a deliberate choice to be obedient to God no matter the consequences.
4. We have to make mission a priority in our lives. Service to humanity is service to Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:40)
5. We must seriously guard our hearts. What we dwell on shapes our character.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5, NLT).
Our dairy farm was very hilly; so hilly we used to joke that the cows had shorter legs on one side than the other to compensate for the steep slopes. About the only bit of flat land we had for the milking shed was at the bottom of a gully. Our farmhouse was on another bit of flat land near the road. Often, we would finish milking the cows after the sun had set and we would have to make our way homeward in the dark. We had torches but back in the 1950s they were not very reliable. Typically, if you dropped the torch – easy to do on a cold wet night – you broke the bulb and who carries spare bulbs for torches in one’s pocket. We would have to feel our way up the track to the house. There was one certainty; the house lights were always on. Despite the failure of our torches we never got lost between the cowshed and the house because we could see the houselights shining through the darkness.
But there is more. If Mum thought we were taking too long to get to the house, she would come and find us and be with us and take us home.
The big picture that God wants us to understand is that salvation is easy. He works hard at trying to save us. Do we experience his presence now, or are we still making our own way to the top of the hill?
Paul tells us in Philippians about his experience in finding the top of the hill.
Love the analogy.
The knowledge of Christ is not merely an intellectual grasp of facts, nor is it a single event. Rather, it is a personal relationship that involves the deliberate, daily alignment of our will with the will of Christ. It is not static but progressive. No wonder Paul purposed to know Christ daily and continually. As much as Paul possessed great learning and knew many people, his supreme aim became knowing Christ alone, for he counted this knowledge as infinitely worthwhile. As he testified, “Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Our salvation is principally bound up with deepening our knowledge of Christ and the resulting transformation into His image and likeness. Men of genius and learning must seek the knowledge of Christ above all else, for without this knowledge, talents and accomplishments drift and ultimately intensify human misery. As awakened sinners, we must learn to seek and acquaint ourselves with our only Savior. Our goal, like that of Paul must be continual growth in the knowledge of Him who is the source of all things. For “this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).
You wrote, “The knowledge of Christ is not merely an intellectual grasp of facts, nor is it a single event. Rather, it is a personal relationship that involves the deliberate, daily alignment of our will with the will of Christ.”
Can you share from your experience what that involves?
Knowing Christ to me has gone beyond basic understanding of biblical facts. I have learned that knowing Christ is a daily choice thus I have to make a decion daily to grow in Him, to submit my will to His daily. Most are the days when my instincts pull me towards self-reliance, anxiety, or tell me I need to be in control but making a choice of obdience continually and trusting Him even when circumstances are not favourable makes sense. Moment by moment surrender of my plans and giving way to His plans over mine, aligning to His will has shaped my attitude and desires. I have come to the conlusion that knowing Christ is not a one time event but a daily living relationship that keeps on maturing through daily surrender obedience to His will over mine.
Knowing Christ, for me, has not been a single dramatic moment, but a slow, steady reshaping of my heart.
At first, I knew about Him—His teachings, His miracles, His death and resurrection. But over time, that knowledge became personal. I began to realize that following Christ meant letting Him have a say in my daily choices, not just my beliefs.
Some days, aligning my will with His means choosing forgiveness when I’d rather hold on to resentment. Other days, it means letting go of control, trusting God when I don’t see the outcome clearly. Often, it means quiet obedience in small things—how I speak, how I treat people, how I respond when no one is watching.
Prayer became less about asking for things and more about listening and being shaped. Scripture stopped feeling like distant instruction and began to feel like a mirror—revealing where my heart needs correction and healing.
There are times of resistance. I don’t always want Christ’s will, especially when it conflicts with my comfort or pride. But I’ve learned that His way brings life, even when it costs something in the moment.
Over time, I noticed changes I didn’t manufacture:greater patience,a softer heart toward others,conviction when I driftand peace that isn’t tied to circumstances.
I don’t experience perfection—far from it. Knowing Christ is not about never failing; it’s about continually returning, realigning, and trusting that He is at work even when growth feels slow.
Most of all, knowing Christ means I am no longer living just for myself. My life has a center outside of me, and that center gives meaning, direction, and hope.
Today, I had the experience of comforting a close friend and dear brother in the faith who’s wife suddenly and unexpectedly went to sleep in Jesus, he caught her as her eyes rolled up, and her head fell back. This couple had been together for 48 years and had served the Lord for most of those years. They have been a blessing in many lives, including my own. We spoke about the pain, the “sting of death,” and how though we have the hope of the resurrection, we still grieve, it still hurts. One day the sting will be gone as Jesus awakens His sleeping Saints. Until that day though, he still has a race to complete, now seemingly alone, having lost his blessed helpmeet. I reminded him that we are never alone, especially in times of grief and sorrow. That is when Christ carries us until we can again stand on our two feet. That is also when we as the body of Christ must come alongside them and help them continue on. We reminisced of the good times, the blessing that she was to him and many others. Then he shared something special about how when they went through hard times one would say, “the best is…” and the other would complete the exclamation, “yet to come!” And so after listening to, speaking with, and praying for him, I said his name, and reminded him that “the best,” and he completed the sentence, “is yet to come.”
We are pilgrims on this journey of “the narrow way.” We each have a race to run, a course to complete. Yet, we are not in it alone, or for ourselves. We are in it to win it together, as a team, as a family, as a family of faith. When a fellow runner falls we should help them up, and help them to continue running for the prize. If we are to look back, may it be to see the goodness of God in our past, especially in those times when we have had to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. If we come across a fellow runner walking that valley, may we come alongside them and walk with them out of it.
When this “race” becomes too difficult to continue running, may we stop, rest, and walk awhile. I pray that we never quit, or allow a fellow runner to drop out and quit either. The finish line is just over the hill and around the corner, and Christ is not only waiting for us, HE, is helping us to cross that finish line. Indeed, “the best is yet to come!”, because Jesus is coming. Maranatha!
The past is gone, and we cannot change a single dot. But thank God Who sets in us a different mindset, and hope fills our hearts with motivation to continue forward. Compared to Christ’s suffering, our present challenges are nothing. After His victory over death, we are all entitled to be winners simply by finishing the race!
Many are the things that distract us from focusing on
God and His offer of salvation to us. In our human understanding, we want to accomplish so much including dwelling in the in pit of our past sins. That is why Paul boldly states that knowing God and His resurrection power as well as having the fellowship of His suffering combine to form the “one thing” that he needs to reach his goal in Christ. Jesus himself also prompted Martha on the need of this “one thing” when Martha and siblings were hosting Jesus at their house.
Thank God! that we do not race against each other to find out who wins the ‘race’ by faith! Each one takes up their cross individually, and carries it faithfully until the day comes to lay it down together with our body. Knowing – recognizing the Light and Truth in Jesus Christ – is meant to benefit all people equally – Acts 10:15-20.
It is interesting to note that during the Last Supper in the Upper Room, Philip, having spent so much time with Jesus, still felt the need to ask Him: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us”. Jesus gently rebuked him saying: “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has ‘seen’ me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? John 14:6-9; Acts 2:1-4.
The apostles saw Jesus with physical eyes, but they needed to have their eyes opened to see Him with spiritual eyes. Jesus came to reveal the Father’s Glory not His Own. The Father’s Way of Life and Light, lived and exemplified by His Son Jesus Christ, has the power to bring to life those who were dead in trespasses and sin’ – this is what it means to know Jesus, to experience God’s Way of Life and Light by faith in Him – John 1:4; John 14:6.
It had been a long time since Jesus started His public ministry, and the apostles had ample time and occasion to get to ‘know’ Him. But it takes more than ‘observation’, it takes the revelation by the Holy Spirit to fully come to ‘know’ Christ and understand the work of Divine Council – Matt.16:16; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20.
“Why, in your walk with the Lord, is it so important not to keep looking back, at least back at your sins and failures, but instead to look ahead to what you have been promised right now in Christ?”
Yes we are to learn from our mistakes if we are to grow in Christ. Yet we are not to dwell on them and let them take over our thoughts, thus avoiding doubt. The Lord God also answers our prayers “keep me from bowing to temptation, and keep me from evil. In Jesus name amen. Matthew 6:13.
I’ve come too far to look back
My feet have walked through the valley
I’ve climbed mountains, crossed rivers
Desert places I’ve known
But I’m nearing the home shore
The redeemed are rejoicing
Heaven’s angels are singing
I’ve come too far to look back. Song by The Hoppers
John, do you think possibly that the Hoppers received their information for their song from Luke 15:7,10?
I believe so.
Take a look at this quote.
“I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance.” “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:7,10. If God and Christ and angels rejoice when even one sinner repents and becomes obedient to Christ, should not man be imbued(totally soaked) with the same spirit, and work for time and for eternity with persevering effort to save, not only his own soul, but the souls of others? If you work in this direction with whole-hearted interest as the followers of Christ, discharging every duty, improving every opportunity, your own souls will be gradually settling into the mold of a perfect Christian.” Review and Herold January 2, 1879, par. 6 – Review and Herold January 2, 1879, par. 7
Was not this Paul’s focus? Yes! Philippians 3:12-14