Philippians 3:7-12: a reflection

7However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. 8Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, 10that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death, 11if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Paul, who had every religious credential and achievement to boast in, makes a stunning reckoning: whatever gain he once had, he now counts as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, he says, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Everything he once prized he now regards as worthless next to the one thing of surpassing worth: knowing Christ.

Notice the reckoning Paul makes. He does not merely add Christ to his other treasures; he re-values everything in light of Christ, and finds that next to knowing him, all his former gains are loss, even rubbish. Knowing Christ is worth more to Paul than everything else combined, worth losing everything to gain. And he presses on to know him more, not resting in what he has attained but pursuing Christ still: I press on to make it my own, because Christ has made me his own.

That reckoning challenges our own scale of values. We prize many things, achievements, status, security, comfort, and rightly hold them dear. Paul does not deny their value, but he sees that knowing Christ so far surpasses them all that everything else is loss by comparison. Ask yourself what you truly treasure, and whether Christ holds that surpassing place. Let knowing him be worth more to you than all your other gains, worth pressing on to pursue. Count everything else as loss beside the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, and press on to make him more and more your own.

Lord Jesus, Paul counted all his gains as loss, even rubbish, for the surpassing worth of knowing you, and pressed on to make you his own because you had made him yours. Reorder my scale of values. I prize many things, achievements, status, security, comfort, and hold them dear; help me see that knowing you so far surpasses them all that everything else is loss by comparison. Let knowing you be worth more to me than all my other gains, worth losing everything to gain. And keep me pressing on, not resting in what I have attained, but pursuing you still. Be to me the surpassing worth beside which all else is loss.