Count it All Loss

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Scripture: Philippians 3:8-11 (ESV)

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 9 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— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Devotion:

            Paul in this scripture declares that he has counted everything he gained by being an apostle as loss so that he may know Christ and his resurrection. In these words, we can pick up the faint echo of Jesus’ own words “take up your cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). It appears from these words that in order to follow Jesus seriously we must be willing to sacrifice everything, including our very lives. Paul here demotes all things to dung (the literal meaning of rubbish in the Greek) so that he can have what he considers more valuable. Eternal life with Christ and ultimately resurrection from the dead.

            We are to find our righteousness in Christ not in our own activities. This does not mean that we are to give up doing good works for the kingdom. Heaven forbid! It means that we are not to depend on our own merit to gain entrance into heaven. Following Christ is important, obedience to Christ’s teaching is of foremost importance, however, we must depend on His righteousness not our own to get us into heaven and the resurrection from the grave.

            It is only by faith in Jesus that we have any hope of salvation. Our hope is in the fact that Jesus lived a perfect life here on earth. And by that perfect life merited resurrection from the dead. Therefore, we can gain the resurrection like Christ’s if we have faith in Him. Paul helps us in these verses to keep our eyes focused on the true prize. Being human, we are often distracted by shiny things we see lying about. We must resist the temptation. Keeping our eyes fixed on Christ so that we will not miss eternal life.

Prayer:

            Lord God Almighty hear our prayers to you today. Help us to not lose focus on the main thing: knowing Christ and his salvation. Increase our faith in Jesus so that we can be assured of obtaining new life in Christ. Help us to know Jesus better and better each day. Help us to live our lives in ways that honor Jesus because of all he has done for us. Let us not be prideful over our accomplishments but be humble in service knowing that the source of anything we do well is that Jesus did it for us first. Amen.

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