What are some of the things that you have lost, cried over and didn’t want to face another day because of the pain and hurt? I used to always ask God what the purpose of losing something or someone is because it seemed like nothing good is in it except that you LOSE SOMETHING. Often times He tells me that it is to see what you value, what you give importance to and time for and also that all that really deserves much attention is Him. In other instances, there are more. It’s always difficult to move on knowing that some things are not going to be the way they were, but the grace of God is always sufficient. It’s true that you can’t make it on your own and that you can’t seem to be able to do the things you have to because you need God to be with you and to help you through it.
How about the things you haven’t lost? Things you value the most and would die in pain if you lost them, things you can’t live without…
"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." (Philippians 3:8)
Are you willing to consider everything, including these, as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ?
The most concrete association I’d give for the phrase ‘consider it loss’ would be a lost pen. I consider a pen lost because (1) I do not anymore have it with me; (2) I no longer have control over it; (3) there is no way I am getting it back/ am ever gonna find it. The same goes with everything we consider loss before God, including problems, burdens, sins, unforgiveness, relationships, finances, etc. It’s like submission, or maybe one way to put it.
(1) When you submit, you are fully letting go and giving whatever you’re submitting to God. For example, when you submit a paper, you don’t just show the paper, let the teacher read though it and then get it back. No, you give it. Meaning, it is no longer in your hands. I like the way Paul put it because then one cannot acknowledge possession.
(2) When you submit, you no longer have control over what you have submitted. How can you, when it is no longer with you? Does this mean you don’t have control? Absolutely not, because you let God be in control. Going back to the paper example…when you submit a paper, you allow the teacher or whoever to do anything he/she wants with it – write on it, publish it, or even throw it away. The same goes with anything you submit to God. You allow him to move in those areas.
(3) “There is no way I am getting it back” – the very thing that triggers someone to consider something as loss. You finally believe that it is lost and that it can never be found, or that someone has already taken it from you. You are certain (and hopeless, if it is something really valuable) that it is never coming back to you. Well, that’s the way it is when we submit things to God. He deals with it and He doesn’t want you to believe it is ever coming back. He tosses sins as far as from east to west. He makes your heart new. His mercies are new every morning. He enables us to forgive. He restores relationships. He teaches us generosity that He might be the one to provide abundantly. You don’t have to deal with what you have given to God anymore because it is taken care of, and if ever you do, you have the Mightiest just beside you.
Note that Paul put it as consider it loss and not lose ‘em all. God revealed Himself to him in a great way that he was able to consider everything as nothing. I hope we all get to know God in a great way. Always, you’ll realize that all you need is God =) and the point is to get to know Him. To finish, I’d like to post the same question as above:
Are you willing to consider everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ?
