Loss

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” Philippians 3:7

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “You can’t take it with you,” referring to the fact that whatever you’ve accumulated on earth stays here when you die. I’ve also heard people say, “I’ve never seen a hearse towing a U-Haul.” Same idea. Neither is a quote from Scripture, but the principle is certainly biblical. We’ll all face God at the end of our lives (Hebrews 9:27), and being wealthy has no bearing on our eternal destiny (Luke 16:25). A couple of months ago, I read that when Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, passed away in 2011, his net worth was $10.2 billion. I also know that there are 1.6 million homeless people in our country. Mr. Jobs and the homeless stand before God on equal footing.

The apostle Paul had everything life had to offer–education, position, money. Yet, when he came to Christ, he considered those things that had so much earthly value to actually be worthless in his pursuit of Christ. In fact, the word we translate “loss” means “detriment.” It’s a business term, which we could translate in a modern way to mean “a bad deal!” Paul said all of the earthly wealth and privilege that he had accumulated did not come close to equaling the value of his relationship with Christ. This is what Jesus Himself meant when He said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 9:36).

Where is the value in your personal balance sheet? Wealth is not sinful in itself, but if you’ve accumulated it at the expense of your soul, there will be a price to pay in eternity.

-Pastor Mike