Count all things loss

Phil. 3-7-14  But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.  8  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  9  and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;  10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,  11  if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  12  Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  13  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  14  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I love this passage of scripture and have been reading these verses for years.  I have yet to really wrap my mind around them.  Just when I think I might be getting a hold of what Paul was writing about, I realize I really don’t have any idea of the revelation he had, but here are just a few thoughts on these verses.  Paul was willing to count everything a loss in order to “know” Christ.  Paul said he lost all things and counted them rubbish so that he may “gain” Christ. WOW!  I mean really, that was Paul’s attitude, that was his desire.   It was what motivated him.  He wanted to know Christ; and if anybody knew Christ is was Paul.  The word “gain” in the Greek means to win or make profit or gained by investment.  Paul was willing to invest the time and his life into knowing and pursuing Christ.

I want to know Christ as well, but when I read these verses I can’t wrap my mind around Paul's selflessness and really how shallow I am.  I want to know Christ at the level Paul was at and I  have a long way to go.  I find that I have just barely scratched the surface.  I have to be willing to count all things loss and invest the time and my life in to knowing Christ.  How about you?

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Cross at the Devin Castle Ruins, Slovakia