The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8, “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.” He had surveyed his life, and on one hand was everything most people count IMPORTANT – position, self satisfaction, personal desires, wealth, and everything else….then on the other hand was KNOWING CHRIST JESUS. After comparing them, he states that there is SURPASSING WORTH and VALUE in KNOWING CHRIST! NOTHING else was more important to Him, in fact EVERYTHING else was WORTHLESS compared to that ONE IMPORTANT VALUE.
Paul goes on in verses 9-14 of that chapter with, “…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 his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Note how he says there is NOTHING worth more to Him. NOTHING! And that’s the way it should be in our lives as believers. We should value KNOWING CHRIST ABOVE ALL ELSE! We should make no other choices or decisions until we have settled in our lives that WE WANT TO KNOW HIM, and given our ALL to that effort. BECAUSE, we CANNOT make the RIGHT choices and decisions UNTIL that is our GOAL.
The exchange of EVERYTHING else, NO MATTER WHAT IT COSTS us, in order to Know Him. And WHEN we begin to KNOW HIM, He will put EVERYTHING else in our lives in it’s proper place and order. Note what Jesus said, “…seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) In other words, ALL we need to seek after is JESUS CHRIST, and when we do that – HE will guide us and direct us in EVERYTHING else in this life. He will show us what choices HE wants us to make, what plans HE has for us, etc., And since He created us, He knows what is best for our lives – not us!
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8:34-37)