BIBLE BREAKFAST (#343) 03/02/20 (English)
“What to me is gain and what is loss…”
? Philippians 3:7-8 “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”
▪️We read with admiration about Apostle Paul and his close relationship with God and his knowledge of Christ. We admire his revelations, but do we understand how he achieved all of this?
▪️Paul himself answers this question: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet ineed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
▪️Paul clearly distinguished “what is what, where does everything go, and where it’s supposed to be”. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have reached, known, or gained anything.
▪️Without doubt, we also want to reach great spiritual heights, to know and to know more of Christ and have a close relationship with Him.
▪️Understanding that all of this is impossible to achieve without a clear choice between gain and loss, “what is what and where does it belong”, I ask myself a question: “have I figured out yet what to me personally is gain and what is loss (loss- that which used to provide primary value and overcame all of me)”?
▪️Paul even, in comparison with gaining Christ, calls this loss (former values which overcome all of you)- rubbish, trash: “count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” And it is true in comparison to spiritual values.
▪️If you do not figure this out or you mix everything up, causing loss to be gain and gain to be loss, you cannot get to know Christ closely- IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
▪️Paul clearly understood this, clearly figured it out, uniquely determined it, and made a choice. People today try to be “smarter” than Paul. They try to not deny loss, but put it first. At the same time, they want to know Christ like Paul did.
▪️But this is impossible. Only one thing can be gain and another loss. Both gain and loss cannot take the same and most important place in our lives: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)
▪️There arises a question: “loss- is this only something bad, sinful?” No, not only. When it comes to sin, I hope we all understand and have determined that it has no place in our lives; not second, not third, not even tenth.
▪️But there are sinful things that can entice a Christian so much that those sinful things begin to become gain. As a result, this becomes needed and useless and takes so much of that person’s attention that it begins to hinder having Christ as gain.
▪️For each one of us it can be our own thing individually, and with the incorrect attitude- loss and nothing more. This is why you need to be brave and have the determination to either deny it all together or put it in the right place.
▪️Some have an oversized passion to certain hobbies, some have an insatiable work appetite, some have material things, passions, valuables, etc.
▪️I will bring an example using fishing and hunting. I know one situation where a pastor noticed that one brother was missing service very often and not taking part in the life of the church. He decided to talk to him and this was the brothers answers to the pastor’s concerns: “right now is hunting season and hunting is my hobby, which why I am very involved over there right now every weekend…” In a different situation I heard the same thing, but this time it was about fishing. For some it’s never ending vacations, for some it’s crazy obsessions with fashion and brands, for some it’s movies, books, work, business, etc.
▪️You can’t say that fishing or hunting is a sin. No, but if you make this your gain and your time and attention towards it becomes pronounced, how can you even speak of the gain and deep knowledge of Christ?
▪️You can say the same thing regarding everything else. We need to learn to make our decisions and choices about what to deny ourselves and what to put second or even last in our lives. Clearly determine for yourself what is loss and what is gain and put this in the first place, not only in words, but also in actions.
▪️This is not always easy. In fact, it can be very hard (I am speaking from personal experience in this area), but do this we must, otherwise, there will be no spiritual movement upward. In best case scenario, “stomping in place”, worse case, “going downhill”.
▪️If you do not have enough wisdom to do this, pray so that God will help you. But for this, you need to honestly admit: “I have a problem with this”.
▪️Lately, I’m seeing certain situations in which people might need help, advice, or compassion from ministers to correctly determine and understand: “what to me is gain and what is loss”.
? Have a good and blessed day and the correct decisions about gain and loss! (With prayer, Valeriy Bayko).
? P.S. If needed, share this with others. Thank you for the re-post.