Die To Live
Philippians 3:8
‘Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.’
What a paradox of loss and gain! Paul, had everything from power, position, learned knowledge, affluence and executive religious might. But through a single divine encounter on the road to Damascus, everything changed.
Growing up in far east Asia, I was always taught that success and material wealth go hand in hand: choosing the right job, getting that dream house, marrying the ideal person, pleasing and appeasing others and not putting a foot wrong gets one far in life. And I clung to it as the mark of success and barometer of self-worth. By various measures, all of us tend to cling on to what makes us feel ‘worthy’ and ‘seen’.
The paradox is, I wasn't joyful, I was living a life that was constantly demanding more of me and piling up the garbage inside with no disposable system. 'Look better, wear that dress for success... You deserve it. He is going to love you for it. Others will approve!' The list goes on... Whilst this pattern of life rewarded me materialistically and gave me experiences of momentary high, it was never satisfying but frankly, soul destroying, duty bound and empty. What I thought I'd gained, seemed like a loss over time.
Like Paul, each one of us, by his grace, has a signposted ‘Damascus’ encounter. Only the one with truth can point the way, and that is Jesus. Paul, changed dramatically after the encounter. He lived in the promised assurance and the fruits of his salvation and for the Good News of the Gospel. He breathed and oozed it. The love Paul had for his Lord is evident. His transformation was supernatural. He delighted in the freedom of fellowship and not the old constraints of duty and accolade. He separated the trash from the infinite worth of a relationship with Jesus. Even in sufferings and calamities, Paul knew that the way to live is to die to the very things that deny him Life.
To gain life is to put away self. To win, is to lose. This is the way of the Cross. To have the heart filled with holy joy and contentment is to first empty the rubbish occupying and choking it. Are you ready to count everything as loss, for the greatest gain?
Prayer – Win us from within Lord Jesus. Help us lose what is rubbish, to gain heavenly worth.