Philippians 3 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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 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, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His suffering becoming like Him in His death that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
How do you measure your worth? Is it found in what you possess or in who you belong to? Is your focus on accumulating treasures on earth or are you concentrating on sending them ahead of you into eternity? Would we be willing to lose everything to gain Christ and to count all that we have as rubbish compared to being conformed to His likeness by the death of our selves.
For the last couple of weeks Ken and I have had the opportunity to experience a life very different from our own. For the second time in two weeks we are in the Carolinas with Ken's work. Last week we spent 3 days and 2 nights in a luxury golfing community and this week we have been 3 days and 2 nights at the Hilton Hotel. I have found that it takes very little exposure to wealth for me to want a lot of it.
After all, who wouldn't want to live in a gated community in a multimillion dollar home, play golf all the time, drive a convertible Mercedes down to the marina to launch your yacht in beautiful South Carolina? Who wouldn't want to have the very best of everything including shopping and lifestyle accommodations?
I am beginning to think that I wouldn't. Not really. In these last two weeks I have imagined what my life would be like if I really lived this life instead of just pretending to. And what I found is that I don't like my behavior as much. It's not quite as happy and content as I thought. My peace is not what it should be. Wanna know why? My focus is turned to the earthy. The temporary. And in doing so it has tuned, just a little, from Christ. I took less time out of my day to think about Him. To talk to Him. To worship Him. To read His words of life. I wasn't really doing anything sinful, just more shopping, more eating out, more sightseeing. But suddenly I find that I might just get used to this.
Maybe that is why God made me lowly. Because He knew that if I had a whole lot, I might forget who supplied it.
So this morning I am making a different choice. I am remembering Him, the Rock from which I was hewn. I will remember my first love. My desire. My Beloved. For nothing on earth can compare with knowing Him. Everything else can be counted as loss, rubbish to me this morning.
That I may know Him and power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
How do you measure your worth? Is it found in what you possess or in who you belong to? Is your focus on accumulating treasures on earth or are you concentrating on sending them ahead of you into eternity? Would we be willing to lose everything to gain Christ and to count all that we have as rubbish compared to being conformed to His likeness by the death of our selves.
For the last couple of weeks Ken and I have had the opportunity to experience a life very different from our own. For the second time in two weeks we are in the Carolinas with Ken's work. Last week we spent 3 days and 2 nights in a luxury golfing community and this week we have been 3 days and 2 nights at the Hilton Hotel. I have found that it takes very little exposure to wealth for me to want a lot of it.
After all, who wouldn't want to live in a gated community in a multimillion dollar home, play golf all the time, drive a convertible Mercedes down to the marina to launch your yacht in beautiful South Carolina? Who wouldn't want to have the very best of everything including shopping and lifestyle accommodations?
I am beginning to think that I wouldn't. Not really. In these last two weeks I have imagined what my life would be like if I really lived this life instead of just pretending to. And what I found is that I don't like my behavior as much. It's not quite as happy and content as I thought. My peace is not what it should be. Wanna know why? My focus is turned to the earthy. The temporary. And in doing so it has tuned, just a little, from Christ. I took less time out of my day to think about Him. To talk to Him. To worship Him. To read His words of life. I wasn't really doing anything sinful, just more shopping, more eating out, more sightseeing. But suddenly I find that I might just get used to this.
Maybe that is why God made me lowly. Because He knew that if I had a whole lot, I might forget who supplied it.
So this morning I am making a different choice. I am remembering Him, the Rock from which I was hewn. I will remember my first love. My desire. My Beloved. For nothing on earth can compare with knowing Him. Everything else can be counted as loss, rubbish to me this morning.
That I may know Him and power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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