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. Philippians 3:8
Have you ever accidentally thrown out something that was valuable? Once we lost a passport (the day before a trip!) and it never turned up. My best guess is that it was accidentally knocked off a desk into a trash can, though we looked everywhere. I have dug through the trash bins behind a McDonald’s restaurant looking for a tossed orthodontic retainer that was brand new. Thankfully, we did find that costly item. Once we sold an end table at a yard sale not knowing it was an antique. We would not have sold it for so little if we had realized it’s value.
Sometimes people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ yet reject it, more or less throwing it in the trash, not realizing it’s value. And sometimes believers who have served God for many years lose sight of the value of their relationship with Christ and return to a life of worldliness, like “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire,” (2 Peter 2:22).
Consider wicked Haman of the book of Esther and the statement he made after enumerating all his blessings and advantages, including wealth, children, and political power, in Esther 5:11-12. He says in verse 13 (ESV), “Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” Mordecai would not bow to Haman or show him any deference, and so Haman hated him. He hated him so much, in fact, that Haman could not enjoy any of the good things in his life. He knew they were good things but devalued them, basically referring to them as garbage.
By contrast, the apostle Paul was happy to give up anything and everything, including things that would have gratified his pride, for the ability to serve Christ. He was a rising star among the Pharisees, yet he willingly “suffered the loss of all things and count[ed] them as rubbish” in order to gain Christ (Philippians 3:3ff).
When we really see the value of the kingdom of heaven, we will do whatever it takes to buy it like a “pearl of great price,” (Matthew 13:45-46). But we must also continue to place the proper value on all of our blessings, great and small. We must not allow ourselves to focus on what we do not have.
When the Israelites complained about what they didn’t have in the wilderness, God seemed to feel that they were throwing their miraculous deliverance from Egypt into the trash. Deliverance from the plagues— into the trash! Crossing through the parted waters of the Red Sea— into the trash! Complaining, complaining, never trusting, forgetting who God was and all He had done for them.
I’m afraid sometimes that is what I do, too. When I complain, I am failing to value my blessings as I should, metaphorically throwing them into the trash. I am saying that what God has given me isn’t enough.
If anything is to be thrown into the trash, let it be whatever makes me a weak servant of Jesus Christ. Let it be garbage like unhealthy practices that make my body weak, and over-indulgence in vacuous entertainment that makes my mind weak. Let it be anything that serves my pride rather than the glory of God; anything that keeps me from Christ.
We might accidentally lose something valuable. But we don’t purposely throw away valuable things unless we fail to recognize their worth. Failure to recognize the value of our blessings from God could cost us our souls. To Jesus our souls were worth saving.
Who can be compared with the LORD our God,
who is enthroned on high?
He stoops to look down
on heaven and on earth.
He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
even the princes of his own people!
He gives the childless woman a family,
making her a happy mother.
Psalm 113:5-9 (NLT)
by Christie Cole Atkins
Dear God and Father in heaven, help me never to let unmet desires cause me to miss the beauty of Your kindness in granting forgiveness of sin and offering salvation through Your beloved Son. Forgive my complaining spirit and help me to be truly thankful and willing to sacrifice anything in order to be with You in heaven some day. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Related Reading:
Walk Worthy 