BCL Devotional: Christ Is Enough for Us — Philippians 3:5-7

July 11, 2026/BCL/
Image Credit: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 - 1669), The Apostle Paul, c. 1657, oil on canvas, Widener Collection; image from Wikimedia Commons; {{PD-US}}.

Image Credit: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669), The Apostle Paul, c. 1657, oil on canvas, Widener Collection; image from Wikimedia Commons; {{PD-US}}.

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Editor’s Note: We are pleased to reintroduce our former BCL Grow devotional series under the new name BCL Devotional. Each devotional includes a Bible passage, an encouraging quotation, and three practical steps to help believers reflect on, remember, and rejoice in God’s love in Christ.

Bible Passage

Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. (Philippians 3:5–7)

Quote

Performancism is the assumption, usually unspoken, that there is no distinction between what we do and who we are. Your résumé isn’t part of your identity; it is your identity. What makes you lovable, indeed what makes your life worth living, is your performance at X, Y, or Z. Performancism holds that if you are not doing enough, or doing enough well, you are not enough. (David Zahl, Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What to Do about It, p. 6)

Steps to Take

Reflect: Scripture teaches us that there is nothing believers can add to the finished work of Christ to earn favor in the sight of God. Yet why do so many Christians strive to earn favor in the sight of other people?

Remember: Many people think the approval of others is what makes for a beautiful life, and, sadly, Christians fall into this wrong thinking as well. Success in sports, academics, careers, relationships, and social media feedback are all ways to build a sense of self-worth in society today, and social media can provide the quickest results. It may seem like it’s not reality that matters but rather the image we carefully craft of ourselves.

According to David Zahl in his book Seculosity, the “sense of not-enoughness” is almost impossible to avoid in a social-media-saturated world:

Smart phones have ushered in an era where such comparisons are both unceasing and meticulously curated. The competitive righteousness displayed on our little screens naturally accelerates, fostering increasingly stratospheric expectations of performance that all but mandate constant shortfall and the attendant anxiety. (Zahl, p. 11)

Far from promising us the validation we are so desperately seeking—that we matter, that we are loved, that we are valued—the digital promise of meaning leaves us always dissatisfied with others, our circumstances, and ourselves.

Rejoice: In the book of Philippians the apostle Paul gives us a great blueprint for getting off the “not-enoughness” hamster wheel that leaves us perpetually exhausted and unsatisfied. Paul understood that the world would never be enough and that nothing he could ever say, think, or do would ever be enough. Only Christ was enough for Paul, and only Christ is enough for us. May we see the lies of the world for what they are and find our identity and worth in Christ alone:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. (Phil. 3:8-9)

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Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What to Do about It by David Zahl