Friday of the 20th week after Pentecost

Brethren, I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ … and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed unto His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as be perfect, have this in mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, [and] let us mind the same thing. Brethren, join in following me, and note those who so walk, as you have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things.