Scripture: Philippians 3:2-12 (NIV)

Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, 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 is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 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.

The story of Mon Mothma is a great example of what it means to sacrifice for the right things. All we knew of her from the original trilogy was that she was the head of the Rebellion against the Empire. Movies, shows, and books have done a good job of filling in the details and showing how she got there.

Mothma came from the world of Chandrila and rose through the ranks until she became one of the most powerful people in the Republic Senate. She and her allies such as Padme Amidala tried to curtail the powers of the Supreme Chancellor and, as the Clone Wars wound down, looked to get those emergency powers back under control of the Senate. Instead, Palpatine styled himself Emperor and took even more power as he formed the Empire. Mothma stayed in the Senate but worked secretly with others to start a rebellion.

Eventually, though, the time came where she had to make a stand. The Ghorman Massacre (which should show up in the second season of Andor next month) was the tipping point. Mothma gave up all of her potential power, all of her standing, the luxuries of Corsucant, everything she had to stand on the right side of the conflict. Her speech resigning from the Senate and subsequent call to the various cells fighting the Empire was the true formation of an organized resistance. Eventually, at the end of the Galactic Civil War, she was elected the first Chancellor of the New Republic and took significant strides to make sure that a Palpatine couldn’t rise again.

Much like Mothma, Paul had all the credentials. He’d been trained by the right people, he had memorized all the laws, he had shown devotion to the cause. He was feared by his opponents and lauded by those in leadership. Yet in an instant, he flipped the script. After his encounter with the risen Christ, Paul threw all of those assets away because they didn’t mean anything. Only serving Jesus did.

Paul still referred to those achievements and accomplishments to show why nobody should consider themselves righteous because of the law. If he, Paul, wasn’t righteous with all those plaques on the wall, who could be? Why would anyone try to claim salvation through works if a man with all that pedigree said it wasn’t good enough?

God doesn’t have a checklist in Heaven, noting every time we went to church or did a Bible study or gave 10% of our income. What He wants is our hearts, loving Him and following after Him in everything we do. Sometimes we can get confused about why we do things. It can’t be for others and it can’t be to check a box. It has to be out of our love and devotion to Him. We need to throw away anything in this life that may keep us away from Him. It might be status, it might be education, it might be any number of things, but all that matters is that our heart is set on God. It doesn’t matter what we’ve built up, we have to let it go if it doesn’t point us to Christ. Keep your heart and mind focused on the Lord!