What can you afford to lose? What, if you lost it, would you not be upset about? What is the cost of it? What if you lost everything you own? How would you feel? How would you react? Would you be devastated?
Not many of us think about losing things. At least, not until something is lost. We don’t ponder what we would do if we were to lose something very expensive. We don’t want to think about the possibility of losing everything we own.
Losing something expensive can be tough. It is especially tough if we put things ahead of God. Changing our mindset about things is not easy. The world we live in puts values on every physical possession we have. Status comes with those possessions. Where we stand in the pecking order of this world is defined by what we have. Perhaps that is why so many people go in debt to buy expensive things.
It wasn’t until I had made a couple of mission trips to Romania that I finally understood how rich, materially, I was. Those trips also caused me to realize the possessions I had were not important. There were a handful of times I forgot to close my garage door when I went to work, or I forgot to lock the front door after having guests and never worried about it. If someone had stopped by and stole my big screen television, oh well. I would do without. It was no longer important to me. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but I had decided that God would work in my life with or without it. It is a different mindset than we have grown accustomed to in our culture. It is a freeing mindset.
Paul states that whatever he gained he considered a loss for Christ. He goes on to say that everything is a loss for Christ. His point is that knowing Jesus is worth everything. Anything that gets in the way of knowing Jesus is a loss for us, keeping us from knowing Him better. Our righteousness comes from God. We have none of our own. It is only through our faith that we gain any righteousness and what we gain is from God.
I pray we all change our mindset. I pray we decide none of our possessions are more important than God. I pray each one of us chooses to know Jesus and accept our righteousness from Him. Choose Jesus over possessions. Change your mindset. Accept righteousness from God. Hold on to your faith. Experience freedom.
Philippians 3:7-9 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, 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 is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Marty Pressey 