Purposeful Loss

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, ...." Philippians 3:8 KJV

I know we covered most of what this verse is saying to us in yesterday's post, but waited to have this verse by itself in a post to observe several things.

We noted yesterday that Paul counted all the positives of his life as loss, but this verse goes on to say that he considered everything that was not Christ in that same purposeful loss. This is not talking about what we lose during our life time for some reason or another. Usually we teachers use it like that, but Paul is talking about everything being counted in a purposeful loss. These items are not what someone else has taken from him, nor what life has taken in its regular course of loss. He is in his heart counting everything gone in order to gain Christ.

The "knowledge" mentioned here, is not even the full experiential knowledge that Paul often uses in relationship to our Lord. This is the simply knowing of and knowing about. He counts everything in his life, both the positive and the negative - everything, not as something to be available for use by Christ, but as "dung." This is one rendering of the word - the King James rendering. I like it better than "rubbish," because rubbish is something we put out for the garbage people to take away, while "dung" is what we flush. It gives a more dramatic sense to the passage which I believe is meant by the Spirit.

He is saying that nothing life has given us in any way compares to the "excellency" of knowing Jesus Christ. He also let's us know that if we choose the "knowing" then all other things are counted as loss to us. This is not what we generally think in today's world. We do not see ourselves in the same position.

How does one do this and love as we are instructed? I rather suspect, if we will take it to prayer we will discover that counting all as "dung" is the only way true love for others will ever be expressed.

Paul is using his own life and what he has found necessary to live a life of fellowship with the Lord. Nothing can come between, nothing can mean the world, no one can have the adoration of heart that is due the Lord. Indeed, to know the Lord is to purposefully count everything else as loss.

I suspect you feel as challenged as I do with these thoughts. We are loved in Christ more than we can comprehend - no condemnation ever given. So these thoughts are to challenge us to dig deeper in Him to discover this "excellency." In the "excellency of the knowing" is the power of willing entrance into a mind-set of purposeful loss.