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Counting All Things Loss

by Jerry Ousley  
5/15/2015 / Christian Living

Because it's my job to have the answers for computer problems when people call me and because I need to be familiar with the latest software, I updated my system to the new Windows 8 operating system. With new PC's now coming out with this version of windows loaded in them I need to know something about it. So I took the plunge. Little did I realize that it was going to result in loss. There are some problems with the operating system that can crash a secondary hard drive that they haven't fixed yet. I didn't know about this; but I do now because it crashed my secondary hard drive that contained all my information. Fortunately I had the foresight to back all of that data up before I did it.

I also lost some programs that would not work right in the new operating system. I suppose I could spend some money to update them (doesn't that seem like a convenient trap?) but I had other programs that did the same thing so I guess I'll begin using them instead and save some hard-to-come-by cash.

The ordeal cost me nearly a week of agony and problems but now I think I've finally got it worked out. One good thing came out of this experience; I did learn some things about the new operating system so that if people call me who are having the same difficulties, I'll know what to tell them. But I really didn't want to learn about it the hard way. And once again, I suffered loss of some data and programs. I wonder if they'll have a recall like the auto industry; probably not.

To be a successful Christian requires us to pay the price. Another part of paying the price is suffering loss. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8, "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." Here was a man who knew the meaning of loss all too well. Paul was well-educated. He had been brought up at the feet (which means that he had studied under) a great teacher of their day named Gamaliel. He had been a Pharisee and knew the Law inside out. He was going places in life. When the Jewish leaders began their persecution of the Church, Paul, not understanding just who the Church was, became a ring-leader in this persecution. That's when he met Christ in a most dramatic way on the road to Damascus. In a nut shell, his life was changed so much that he did a complete about face. After coming to know just who Jesus was, he stopped his campaign of persecution of Christians and began preaching Christ on the street. Talk about confusion the Christians were still suspicious of this man who had been responsible for their torture and death, wondering what he might be up to, while the Jews couldn't understand why this man who had sworn to rid them of these pesky Christians was now helping them spread their message.

From that day forward Paul became the persecuted. He suffered beatings, was stoned and left for dead, chased out of several cities, jailed and shipwrecked. One would think his life to have been a total waste. But in his own words he explained why he had done this. He had found Christ. All his knowledge, all his success, his very future and everything he had possessed he counted as worthless and loss so that he might gain Christ. Finding the Lord was worth more than all these other things.

There's nothing wrong in preparing for the future. Many young people have gone to college or are in the process of going to college in preparation for their future. Again, there's nothing wrong with that. But when we have found Christ we must count everything our homes, our automobiles, our jobs, even our very lives, as worthless in comparison to eternal life in Jesus Christ. We can continue preparing for the future, but as believers our primary goal should now be Christ.

God wants us to be happy and blessed, but more than that He wants us to be His. He has so much for us if only we could learn to let go of the things of this age. All of the gadgets, trinkets, and things we count as necessary and fine, are merely junk when compared to the true riches to be found in the Lord. Counting all things loss in our Christian experience may seem like a sacrifice and a high price to pay; but when we really begin counting the cost compared to the gain there's really no contest.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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