Counted As Loss

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

 

 

Philippians 3:7

It would not be too long after his conversion that Paul would learn one of the greatest lessons every child of God must learn—avoid putting confidence in the flesh. In our work we are rewarded for achievement. It is a measurable accomplishment—we work and we see results. Not to mention that we get at times certain good feelings from these accomplishments.

Sometimes it is not until we are placed in a situation to experience utter failure that we actually identify with the words of Paul. We and other believers can all testify of when we have achieved great success in things only to experience dramatic failure. Which leads us to a realization that:

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith… (Philippians 3:7-9).

Sometimes God lets us experience great pain to learn the lessons of greatest importance and draw us to knowing Christ more intimately as this is the one of the most important lesson we can learn. Take a look at what you find your greatest pleasure in and avoid placing your confidence in things that are but rubbish so that you might know Him more intimately.