That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Philippians 3:10
In the earlier verses of Philippians 3, Paul criticizes Judaizers because they looked at Christianity backward, thinking that what they did (like circumcision..) made them believers rather than the free gift of grace given by Christ. Here Paul is not boasting about his achievements but he is doing the opposite, showing that human achievements no matter how impressive, cannot earn a person- salvation and eternal life with God. Paul had impressive credentials: upbringing nationality, family background, inheritance, and so on. However, he counts all things as loss to gain Christ and for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Paul suffered the loss of all things and counted them as rubbish that he may gain Christ and be found in Him not having his own righteousness which is from the law and that which is through faith in Christ.
Today’s verse is Paul’s ultimate desire, his great desire was to have reproduced in himself the life of Jesus, so as to know all about Him by being made like Him and to bear reproach for His name’s sake. To know Christ we must have an intimate relationship with Him. When we become one with Christ by trusting in Him, we experience the power that raised Him from the dead, that same mighty power will help us live morally renewed and regenerated lives. But before we can walk in the newness of life, we must die to sin. Just as resurrection gives us Christ’s power to live for Him, His Crucifixion marks the death of our old sinful nature. We can’t know the victory of resurrection without personally applying the Crucifixion. May Paul’s desire be our deepest desire. As Christ becomes our greatest passion, knowing Him should be our number one priority.