Give Up to Gain

"...put no confidence in the flesh." (Philippians 3:3)

In the verses that follow this one, Paul lists the reasons he could put confidence in the flesh.

His heritage. His family history. His ancestry.

His education. The degrees he had earned. The books he had read.

His position. The important job that he had. The people that looked up to him.

His character. Single-minded. Devoted. Hard-working.

All those things we can look at and be impressed. This is someone I want to know! This is someone I want to follow! This is someone whom I want to be like!

Paul's conclusion: "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ" (v 7).

He gave up all of that to know Christ.

"For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (v 8).

We are not accustomed to giving up very much. We would rather work hard to keep what we have and add spirituality to it. We want all our stuff and Christ.

But there are times in our Christian walk when we have to sacrifice to be obedient to Christ.

We may have to sacrifice a career move, rather than sacrifice a church family that holds us accountable and teaches us the Word.

We may have to sacrifice getting another degree, in order to spend time developing spiritual disciplines.

We may have to sacrifice being close to family, to follow Christ to where He wants us to grow.

Doing what is right can be costly. But the reward of knowing Christ is much better.

It can be painful at the beginning to deal with the loss, but far greater to have the joy of obedience. Far greater to come closer to the Lord and lay up treasures in heaven.