Devotions that Resonate Truth

No Longer Under A Curse

 
Galatians 3:10, 13 
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”  
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” 
The words “law” and “curse” conjure up strong pictures in your mind and mine. Law makes me think of government and police officers, and curse makes me think of witches and magic, since those are the places in my life where the words come up most often. But I know innately that these verses in Galatians can’t be talking about either one of these pictures. What spiritual pictures does Paul actually want you and me to see? And deeper than that, as God speaks to our minds today – what hope and power of God are provided in these words, for our strengthening, that God wants us to picture and understand? God wants us to see everything differently in the next 24 hours because we’ve read these words and thought about them. 
Let’s start with “curse” because it sounds the most interesting. You and I were born under a curse – that sounds fantastic – in the sense of “from a fantasy,” but it also sounds dark and a little creepy. Is this voodoo? What is the curse and who cursed us, some witch looking over the railing to our crib? A curse is a pronouncement that if we do something (like poke our finger on a spindle), then something terrible will happen (like dying). Well, the verses say everyone who doesn’t do everything perfectly that is written in the Book of the Law is cursed. Since the Book of the Law was written by God, the one who has cursed us is...God. And what is our curse? Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:22 that just getting angry or calling someone an “idiot” breaks the law and the judgment, or curse, is “the hell of fire.” Who is able to go a full week without anger or the occasional put down? What a standard and what a consequence! Jesus himself is God’s law enforcer and those cursed to hell will be there in torment for eternity. So, the picture God wants to convey is that the law is everything God has told us to do and the curse we live under is not just a little creepy. If we get the real picture in our minds, it’s terrifying. 
With that fixed in our minds, we’re now ready to add the words of Galatians 3:13. God tells us that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” – and that his physical act of hanging on the cross is where our curse was lifted and placed on him. The song How Deep the Father’s Love says that we see “our sin upon his shoulders”. This is sounding really good, but it’s even better than you think because there are two parts to us no longer being under a curse!  
The first part of being cursed is that no matter how hard we try – including the people who lock themselves in convents and monasteries and deprive and beat themselves, which I think is harder than you’re trying – no matter how hard we try, most of what comes out of us is the list of things listed below in Galatians 5:19-21. 
Galatians 5:18-24 
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 
How tragic to want to stop doing all of these horrible things, but be unable to, because you’re cursed. That is the first part of our curse. 
The second part of the curse is waiting in prison for our punishment for being this way. Whether it’s waiting for a parent to come back and punish us, waiting in a courtroom for the judgment against our wrong, or the extreme case of those waiting on death row for their final day of life, waiting for a punishment is awful. The anticipation of pain and the look in our parent’s or the judge’s face puts a knot in our throat and a pit in our stomach. But according to Galatians 3:13, Christ redeemed us – so the second part of the curse is lifted in its entirety. There is no punishment left for us to wait for, our sins are draped around his neck and the only hard part is watching him receive the lashes, blows, and wrath of God. But we feel joy because we couldn’t stand the crushing weight and it would never have been lifted. We are free from this curse forever! 
More than that, he also freed us from the first part of the curse. Galatians 5:22-24 shows us that when Jesus died, he not only removed the curse of our punishment, he crucified our flesh and gave us the Spirit of God. We’re no longer cursed as slaves to the acts of the flesh: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” This curse is also lifted, and look at what is able to flow from us now and define our relationships: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control”. 
The curse is broken. The curse is lifted...and placed on him. There is no dread of the curse. There is no hopelessness from the curse. There is power in the Spirit, there is freedom and joy and life – so let us rejoice and live this reality that is ours!  

He Rescued Me From The Pit

 
Psalm 40:1-2 
I waited patiently for the Lord; 
    he inclined to me and heard my cry. 
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, 
    out of the miry bog, 
and set my feet upon a rock, 
    making my steps secure. 
I opened my eyes to utter darkness. It was incredibly quiet. I was unable to tell where I was, except for the cold damp walls pressing in on me from all sides. I could also feel the thick, sticky mud gluing me from my waist down. Each breath was full of the acrid smell of death.  
Looking up I saw a small disc of blue at least 50 feet above. But this escape route didn’t give me any hope, it was not the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. In a vertical tunnel, it only solidifies that fact that it is impossible to get out. Ignoring the facts, I dug my fingernails into the slime-covered walls and tried to pull myself up. Maybe if I could get clear of this mud, then I’d be able to climb the rest of the way. I lifted a knee and tried to push out in all directions, but it was no use. After trying for half an hour all I had accomplished was to exhaust myself and cover my whole body with the slop. 
This is when, being a logical person, I began yelling uncontrollably in panic. “Help! Somebody help me! I’m stuck down here!” Thirty minutes of this left me hoarse but no closer to getting out alive. I was miles from town and nobody even knew where I was. My spirit sank lower in the muck as I remembered how I got here, it was my own fault, there was no scapegoat to blame. I…had dug…this…pit. And I’d enjoyed the digging! At least at first, and when the pleasure of the hole waned, I dug it deeper, trying to restore the satisfaction and pleasure I desperately craved. I’d underestimated how slick the walls would be…it was so easy to slide down, it was effortless. But no amount of effort could get me closer to the top again. 
I waited. I looked up to the only place salvation could come from. The blue orb suddenly went black. Then it came back. There must be someone up there. “Help!” I croaked again and I heard a reply. “Don’t worry son, I’m going to pull you out of this pit.” Lowering a rope down to me would be useless, I knew I didn’t have the strength left to hold on, even if he could lift me. 
The sound of muffled talking managed to reach me at the bottom and I could hear two distinct voices. They must be discussing the plan or maybe they were talking about the fact that I was a lost cause. Suddenly the light went out again and I could hear something being lowered down to me from above. I waited and then I felt something – no, someone! Then he spoke to me. “My dad tied this rope around me and lowered me down to you. I’m going to tie it around you now, if you’ll let me, and my dad will do all the work to lift you up out of this hole of death. I’ll stay here in your place until you are drawn up to safety and then he’ll pull me up, too.” 
I hung like a rag doll as the father hoisted me up with powerful pulls on the rope, never hesitating or stopping to catch his breath. I knew I was saved when the dark, slippery world I had grown used to suddenly exploded into light and color and immensity. The father set me on the clean, dry ground. 
Here are words and ideas that the bible has when it describes the spiritual pit: injury, death, graves, perishing, flung alive, sinking in mire, destruction, falling, dark and deep, swallowed alive with the pit closing its mouth over you, a narrow well, Sheol, no hope, terror, the slain.  
Does that help? Are you there?  
I’m not just asking rhetorically…not just in your imagination. Are you still there?  
We all dig a pit and we all fall into it…the bible tells us that, too. I was there, too. But I’m not in my pit anymore! How did I escape you ask!? Just as Psalm 40:2-3 continues, 
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, 
out of the miry bog, 
and set my feet upon a rock, 
making my steps secure. 
He put a new song in my mouth, 
a song of praise to our God. 
Many will see and fear, 
and put their trust in the LORD. 
When you realize that you are in a spiritual pit and cannot get out, and you fear and put your trust in the LORD, you have a song of praise to God! 
Psalm 103:1-5 
Bless the Lord, O my soul, 
    and all that is within me, 
    bless his holy name! 
Bless the Lord, O my soul, 
    and forget not all his benefits, 
who forgives all your iniquity, 
    who heals all your diseases, 
who redeems your life from the pit, 
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 
who satisfies you with good 
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 
 

He Himself Bore Our Sins

 
1 Peter 2:24 
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 
He bore our sins. He bore their weight. We are all familiar with this concept – carrying a bag of concrete, or a heavy tool, or moving a friend’s armoire down the stairs, or ladies maybe you can relate better to carrying a sleeping baby in a car seat and a loaded diaper bag for two miles from the parking lot into the store (fatigue has a way of distorting distance). We all know what it feels like to carry a heavy pack (like in Pilgrim’s Progress). 
In 2017, I visited the 9/11 memorial in NYC and there I remembered a different kind of weight. 110 floors of building, 200,000 tons of steel, 425,000 cubic yards of concrete, and 600,000 square feet of glass. That came down with an incredible crushing force – estimated at an equivalent to exploding 600 tons of TNT. I saw a 15-ton composite at the memorial – which looked like a big rock with metal in it - 5 floors packed together and fused. You may remember that rescue workers expected to find many bodies but none were found, due to the extreme falling weight of the buildings. 
This is a powerful image of the spiritual weight of sin, not just a heavy pack to carry around that we drop at the cross. Not even an extraordinary man could hold up a quarter mile of skyscraper and save everyone inside and beneath. None of us could bear the weight of our own sin coming down on us. Only Jesus Christ, God taking on flesh, could – and would – and DID – bear the world’s sins and save all who put their trust in him. 
But only those who trust in him. We must trust him. Many around us, maybe even you today, are in a spiritual high rise about to come down, it’s hard to say when. Flee to the safety only found in Jesus. Our verse says that “he himself bore your sins”. I took part in another memorial in NYC, one held on Sunday at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. As I approached the front and took a piece of crushed, broken bread, the person holding the plate looked me in the eye and said, “the body of Christ, broken for you.” I can’t do that physically for you today, but if you have shared in his death and resurrection, remember the crushing weight he bore for you, and worship. 

God Has Bigger Plans For You

 
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 
Ah, the manifold ways God uses suffering. What an unusual and odd-shaped tool it is in his deft hands, capable of all kinds of good, and yet, like wide-eyed patients laying on the operating table, we shrink back from the shiny instrument of suffering, moving in every direction to avoid its touch – especially in America today.  
On March 3, 2020, I found out that I have Type I diabetes. It was a shock, it immediately changed my life, and it will be a disease I have until I die. While it does not compare with the pain, impact, and risks of many diseases, an extra portion of suffering has been added to my plate (and it replaces that nice afternoon soda I have often enjoyed so much). I accept both the good and the evil that God places in my life (Job 2:10), in fact I believe I’ve received a triple portion of undeserved good from God that far outweighs this disease. But what purpose does God have for me in my diabetes? One obvious change that loomed before me was that of being more limited. I imagine this is often the case for those who have big plans and get sick. “I wanted to do so much, why is God holding me back, limiting me?” 
John MacArthur Jr. summarizes a few of the good, powerful, biblical uses God has for suffering in the introduction to his book on Job. 
“God ordains that his children walk in sorrow and pain, sometimes because of sin (cf. Num. 12:10–12), sometimes for chastening (cf. Heb. 12:5–12), sometimes for strengthening (cf. 2 Cor. 12:7–10; 1 Pet. 5:10), and sometimes to give opportunity to reveal his comfort and grace (2 Cor. 1:3–7). But there are times when the compelling issue in the suffering of the saints is unknowable because it is for a heavenly purpose that those on earth can’t discern (cf. Ex. 4:11; John 9:1–3).”
So, which of these was behind my diabetes? In his mercy, God did not even allow me to consider this question fully. The morning after I received the news, I read this quote in my devotional reading and it has changed me forever. 
“You may have been in the fires and have been having a pretty hard and painful time in your spiritual life, but that only means that God has been preparing you for something more. No, God is not a God who believes in bringing everything to an end. He is always after something more. And if He has to clear the way for something more by devastating methods (Cross), well, that is all right, for it is something more that he is after. There is so much more, far, far transcending all our asking or thinking. (Miles J. Stanford, None But the Hungry Heart, p.46)"
More, more, more! This hit me like the opening of the gates at Disneyland! God, you didn’t give me diabetes to hold me back, to limit me. You don’t want to do LESS with me, you’re not a God of less…you always want to do MORE with me! More than you could do before. The problem is that I don’t think big enough, I think too small – I would never have given myself a disease. But you did, and that means you have an even BIGGER plan for my life than I imagined. You won’t allow your plans to be pent up by my small view of pain, inconvenience, or sacrifice. 
A few days after I was diagnosed, I drove to meet a friend for coffee and was again considering this new understanding I have for how suffering frees up our life to be more, not less. I found myself confessing out loud, with my whole heart, for the first time, “Thank you Lord, for giving me diabetes.” This amazing paradox touches my deepest emotions.  
So, using the specifics of my real life today (and for the rest of my life, just like Paul’s thorn in the flesh) I join him in this personalized version of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. 
God, I believe that your power is made perfect in my diabetes. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my diabetes, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with diabetes, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak and limited, then your strength is unleashed through me in new ways that were locked before! And I want more of you! 
 

He Emptied Himself

Philippians 2:5-9 
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. 
You may have missed it but we just traveled with the second person of the trinity from height of glory, to depth of shame, to height of glory. In verse 6, Christ Jesus is enthroned in heaven being worshiped 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, enjoying his equal status with God, being God himself.   
In verse 7 he willingly empties himself of glory descending by the end of verse 8 to death on a cross, a death of unimaginable pain and utter shame – which is only exceeded when you compare it to the shame of His perfect Father, the first person of the Trinity, looking at his only son and treating him as all the terrible sins of the world deserve…with terrible wrath.  
But then in verse 9, because of this atoning death, he has been shot heavenward, exalted back to the absolute pinnacle of worship, glory, and honor – above absolutely everyone. And one day, though some are bound for hell and some are bound for heaven, not a single being who has ever existed or will exist will fail to bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Let me say that another way. It doesn’t matter what you believe today, one day you will both believe and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. If you believe today, you will enjoy rest and love for your soul. But if you wait, it will be too late to enjoy this belief. 
Those are the facts. Jesus stepping down from glory to suffer is every bit as real as any earthly king who stepped down from his throne. But don’t forget to look at the person behind the facts. How did this happen? Was he usurped? Did he go kicking and screaming? No. He didn’t count equality with God a thing to be held onto tightly, but emptied himself willingly of his own accord.  
It was an unthinkable, mind-blowing leap from perfect, complete joy and glory into complete humiliation, pain, and separation taken willingly; not forced. All of this for the joy of being God, who would stop at nothing to move your sin out of the way so that you could be with him.  
Get this, if Jesus had stepped down from his throne to be treated as the archangel Michael, it would have been a bigger drop in status than anything any human could experience. Yet he gave it ALL UP and died for us, with a human, broken body... without putting up a fight. 
Is he worthy of our praise!? Amen.

Why Devotions?

 
I want to tell you why I'm excited to share these devotions with you.
There’s a special time, usually in the morning, when mist rolls into a valley and rests like a thick and heavy blanket over a sleeping landscape. It is beautiful and serene to behold, but it is fragile, so you have to rise a little early and stare out, not speaking, soaking in the view. As the sun comes up, the mist disappears and the world awakens and begins to buzz with work and activity, just as it was created by God to do. You can’t stop this advance and you aren’t meant to, but you can enjoy the calm before it and look forward to the following morning.
Similarly, there’s a special time for our soul, usually in the morning. Our body and soul have been quieted by sleep and rest, which we need so badly. It sits like a blanket protecting us for a few minutes before the world awakens and rushes in on us, with work and activity buzzing around us. You can’t stop this advance and you aren’t meant to, but you can enjoy the time alone with your Lord and look forward to the following morning, with eagerness, though few of us do.Why do we call the time we spend alone with the Lord, reading and praying, doing “devotions”? Have you ever thought about that? This is one of the words that have become part of our Christian vocabulary, it is familiar and conjures up some kind of picture in your mind when I say it – devotions. I believe that word stuck because it is rich with meaning.In 1828, Noah Webster completed his twenty-eight-year work, the American Dictionary of the English Language. “To evaluate the etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-six languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Greek, Hebrew, and Latin…Noah Webster was a Christian and famously said ‘Education is useless without the Bible.’” (Noah Webster. 2020, February 9, http://webstersdictionary1828.com/NoahWebster)Here are his definitions for the word “devotion” from almost 200 years ago. Don’t rush through these.
The state of being dedicated, consecrated, or solemnly set apart for a particular purpose.
A solemn attention to the Supreme Being in worship; a yielding of the heart and affections to God, with reverence, faith and piety, in religious duties, particularly in prayer and meditation; devoutness.
External worship; acts of religion; performance of religious duties.
As I passed by and beheld your devotions. Acts 17:23.
Prayer to the Supreme Being. A Christian will be regular in his morning and evening devotions.
An act of reverence, respect or ceremony.
Ardent love or affection; attachment manifested by constant attention; as, the duke was distinguished by his devotion to the king, and to the interest of the nation.
Earnestness; ardor; eagerness. He seeks their hate with greater devotion than they can render it him.
Disposal; power of disposing of; state of dependence. Arundel castle would keep that rich corner of the country at his majestys devotion
Webster, N. (1928). An American Dictionary of the English Language.
Devotion is (or at least was) an absolutely incredible word. It captures the disposition of a heart and life in a multi-faceted, powerful way. When we are devoted to a person, it must come from very deep – we view them differently than every other person in some way, they are set apart to us. They capture our attention and we yield our own will to them, but not only that, we yield the very affections of our heart. But while devotion must spring from the heart, it isn’t merely a feeling. No, it is the heart intertwined with action. When you look at a person who is devoted to another person, it is obvious. Note that I didn’t say “it should be obvious”. If it isn’t obvious, then they aren’t truly devoted. You can’t hide earnestness, ardor, and eagerness. It is evident when someone lives in a state of dependence (compared to independence) and prioritization of another person.
Is this what my “devotions” look like with God? To Mr. Webster, you can’t properly define the word without speaking of faith, prayer, meditation, and worship to the God of the Bible. Am I truly devoted to God? Do I even want to be devoted?
If the answer to this last question is “Not really” then it is very likely that I am not real follower of Jesus, as the Bible defines it. A real Christian is a person who has come to the place where they want to yield completely. This happens only when we come to God and raise empty hands and say, “I want to be loved and accepted by you, but there’s nothing I can do to erase my mountain of sins or to change my heart, which is predisposed to worship myself instead of you. I believe that this has created an impassable wall between us. But I also believe that Jesus suffered the agony of separation from you that I deserve and in so doing, traded places with me, cleansing me and placing me in his place – enveloped night and day by the unfiltered love and fellowship of the Triune God, forever. This means that when you paid for me, you purchased me, you own me. So, it is my delight to live for you and no longer for myself. You are my Savior and my Lord.”
You don’t have to use all those words, of course. It isn’t the words that save you and change you. It is what God did through Christ for you that saves you as we read in Ephesians 2:1-9. But until you acknowledge that truth and begin to live a life that shows you really believe it, there is no use or value in trying to be more “devoted” to God, as we read in James 2:14-26.
Responding to Jesus’ loving act of sacrifice for me, suffering in my place, is the most important and life changing event in my life and in every human being who is willing to admit their low estate in order to be lifted up and permanently given the title and full benefits of son or daughter of God. There is nothing I want more for you, and I pray that God use whatever means are necessary – even taking away all that you love today – that you might live in his love forever.
Let’s return now to our first question, “Am I truly devoted to God?” and its counterpart “How can I grow in my devotion to God?” The answer is simple – we need to think differently and want God more than everything and everyone else. Romans 12:1-2 speaks to this process and I’ve personally experienced 35 years of being transformed. So, I am living proof that it’s a slow process, not a single thing you can do! But I also look back with sadness and see that the selfishness and stubbornness of my heart has greatly slowed down the process. In so doing I have missed out on the deeper joy and richer peace of knowing God that could have been mine. I have also hurt many people, people that I love, because I was unwilling to be more devoted to God, preferring to remain mostly devoted to myself. And there’s the catch! There is only one throne in the throne room of every heart! And our flesh, the fallen part that we carry around even as believers, is quick to put us on the throne and God in the corner.
That is why I’ve written these pages. I want to help you put God back where he belongs every day and to dethrone yourself. I know you are already trying to do this, but if it mostly feels like work; if you mostly feel guilt and shame about your devotion, I want to free you. You may feel like the man or woman whose car is stuck in deep mud – frustrated with slow going or no going, strain and push as you might. I want you to feel like you’ve been pulled up onto the pavement again and how fast you go is a matter of how much fuel you’re willing to put into the engine.
Allow me one short story to close. A few weeks ago, as I was preparing to do a devotion with my three kids, I asked them what the word “devotion” means - when we’re not talking about a few verses and a thought from the Bible. They had pretty good answers and we looked up a definition on my phone to amplify. Then, as I looked at each of my own children, my heart was moved. I asked them, “What if I was to ask if you are devoted to me as your dad, but you were really busy and only had 10 minutes to spend with me each morning? What if the attitude that you brought to meet with me was 5 minutes of dry duty to sort of listen to something I wanted to tell you for your day, followed by 5 minutes of you asking me for some things that would make your day easier? Then, with a bit of relief, you walked away without a hug?”
That picture makes me cry. First, because I love my kids and thinking of our relationship reduced to that level breaks my heart. Second, because I often have felt that way when meeting with my heavenly father – if I have even given him any time at all. But that picture also makes me smile and cry tears of joy! The shame and the guilt wash away! Why? Because I realize that God is my perfect father! Every day for the last 35 years he’s been sitting there, 100% available and devoted to me of all people, because I’m his son! That means he’s eager, earnest, with ardent love and affection. And he’s also all-knowing and all-powerful, so that means that if I sit down and ask him to speak to me through his Word, he will overflow with wisdom and insight, so good and deep that I’ll probably have to ask him to help teach me what it means and how to apply it correctly to my own life. And if I tell him about my life, I know he cares – even if I say it wrong, even if half of what I say doesn’t make sense, he wants to hear me! He wants to spend time with me. He’s not distracted with everything else he has going on. He wants to take care of me – he promised he would and he has never failed me! He has allowed hard things into my life, even deep suffering. I don’t deny that, nor do I want to. You know why? Because when I accept those as from his hand instead of out of his control, they teach me my weakness, my great need, and how willing and able my Father is for everything in life.
At the end of my time with the Lord, however long that is today, I want to be changed like that. I want to be more like him because I love him and I spend time with him, just like a good friend. I want to have a thrill of excitement as I sit down with him, because of the relationship I have with him. When my heart and mind view devotions as a means to experience God’s devotion to me, then I grow in my devotion to him. It is easier to see and reject the flesh’s false and hopeless efforts and to hear and follow the Spirit’s voice leading me, when my focus is on walking with him. May the words on these pages aid you in your own transformation. May we all treasure and look forward to that special time for our soul.
“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him…I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! (Selections from Philippians 3:7-11, New Living Translation)