“Make It Your Own, Dawg!”

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading was written by Adam R. Holes, and he titled it, Make It Your Own, Dog. On June 11, 2002, the singing competition American Idol debuted. Each week, hopefuls performed their own versions of popular songs, and the viewing audience voted on who advanced to the next round of the competition. As one of the panel judges on the show, Randy Jackson's signature feedback was this zinger, You made that song your own, dog. He lavished that praise when a singer took a familiar tune, learned it inside out, and then performed it in a new way that gave it a unique personal spin.

To make it their own was to own it completely and creatively, and then offer it to the world on stage. Paul invites us to do something similar to our own faith and our expression of it too. In Philippians 3, he rejects attempts to earn right standing before God.

Instead, he teaches us to embrace the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. The gift of forgiveness and redemption transforms our motivation and goals. I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Jesus has secured our victory.

Our job? To take hold of that truth, internalizing God's gospel gift and living it out amid our broken world. In other words, we're to make our faith our own, and in so doing, live up to what we have already attained.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Philippians chapter 3 verses 7 through 16. I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us then who are mature should take such a view of things, and if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for your saving gift of redemption and love on the cross. Help us to respond in gratitude each and every day, and to press on in our faith with thankfulness. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. I'm Stephen, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.