Gaining Christ

Last week in Bible study we looked at Philippians 3:1-11. The verses that hit me the hardest were verses 7-11, which are below:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 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. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul says he considers EVERYTHING a loss compared to the worth of knowing Christ. “EVERYTHING” is a strong word! I started to think about things in life that I may be holding onto too tightly. What in my life, if it was taken away, would I kick and scream over? In fact, he considers them “garbage.” Not just things, but garbage – something you have to throw away. Am I willing to throw away something in order to gain Christ? I look at our world – what are we striving for? Where are our priorities? What do we think makes people happy? The next “thing”? As Christmas season rolls around, it’s hard not to get caught up in the mentality that our world sees happiness as having the latest and greatest thing. Are we encouraging that thought process in ourselves? In our families? To be honest, yup, there are things that Dan and I want – and we have to keep on checking ourselves – do those desires overcome our desire for Christ? Are the things that we want, things that HE would want us to have?

Reading this passage also was a good reminder that gaining Christ is not something I can “earn” but it is a gift, based on faith. As much I try to live for Christ, I can never earn righteousness. There is NOTHING I can do to match up to that gift. Lately that has been a little more real to me, though I have always believed this. Being offered the gift of an “oven” (Brenda) for our child, knowing I will never be able to say thank you enough and never be able to give a comparable gift back. Words can’t even express this feeling. At the same time, what Brenda is doing, doesn’t even compare to what CHRIST has done for us! THAT MUCH MORE, Christ’s free gift of righteousness through faith, is a gift of selfless love. The Pharisees tried to do all the right things by following the law. I try to do the right things too – but none of them will earn that righteousness. It just makes me that much more thankful for Christ and HIS incomparable gift!

And finally, the basis of the passage, gaining Christ. This concept is very similar to what I talked about losing everything for Christ, but have you thought of what you will GAIN in return? It’s not a “you can have both mentality.” When you lose whatever you are holding onto too tightly, you GAIN Christ in return. I think of it as two cups. One cup is empty and the other cup full. The full cup is everything earthly and of the old self. The other cup represents God. What are we willing to let go of and pour into God? To let go of the things we hold onto to tightly and give (pour) them to Christ, so that we may GAIN Him? What cup are you filling up? When people look at your life, which cup do they see is full? Or are both half full? Of course I have to be careful with this analogy because again, righteousness (salvation) is something that we cannot earn and there is nothing we can do to deserve it. This is just a tangible way of looking at what it means to put off the old self and fill our lives with Christ. A life in Christ, as John 10:10 says “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”

As Dan and I think about what God is doing in our life, it continually brings us back to the cross and what a gift Christ’s sacrifice was to us. We praise God this season for giving us a glimpse of heaven on earth as Christ was born into this world. We thank Him that God so freely has given us the gift of righteousness, outside of anything we can say or do. And we thank Him for giving us a glimpse of what it means to receive a gift and never be able to repay, in how God is using Brenda in our lives.

Tomorrow we have another appointment, which we are looking forward to! We are hoping to get a little more clarity on the process, as it is a lengthy one. This is just another step God has put before us and we take it until He says stop!