Worth the Loss

I think all of us are acquainted with loss to some degree or another. Some of us have lost tangible things, like jobs or homes; some of us have said goodbye to relationships or loved ones; and some of us have seen dreams or goals fall apart in front of us. No matter what type of loss we face, I think we can all agree on one thing: it hurts (sometimes unbearably so). This week when I was reading in Philippians, though, God gave me a very different view of loss--in fact, pretty much as opposite a view of loss as a person could have. 

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ....one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:7-8, 13-14)

To me, it seems like God views loss in a very different way than most of us do. Here is what I took from this passage.

1. Nothing holds as much value as knowing Christ more. 

"I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Nothing compares to knowing Jesus more. Nothing. Do you believe that? No earthly relationship, no matter how close and enjoyable; no astounding success, no matter how hard you worked to get it; no victory or triumph, no matter how hard the battle was that led to it; no dream realized, no matter how incredible it seems...nothing. It doesn't matter how much you think that thing you want most in the world will make you happy; in comparison to knowing Jesus, Paul says it is rubbish (literally waste, food scraps, and one translation even says excrement!) We have to get this main point down, let it sink into our hearts and take over completely, in order to really understand what Paul is saying in the rest of this passage. If we don't, we will stay stuck where loss will always mean grief, suffering, pain...and we will never be able to move forward into the "gain" Paul tells us about.

2. Loss still means suffering

Paul says that he "has suffered the loss of all things"...he suffered. It still hurt to lose those things. It's ok that we hurt when we lose things. I don't think that God is telling us that we can't grieve or feel sorrow over things being removed; in fact, He even tells us that there is a time to grieve.

Ecclesiastes 3:4-- "[there is] a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."  

Remember, when God first designed the world, He never intended for there to be grief or loss or death or sadness. Loss is a result of sin, and it hurts. Something else I've seen is that the things with the most intrinsic good--the closest relationships, most impacting jobs, most fulfilling dreams...those hurt the most to lose. So it isn't that Paul is saying these things are rubbish in and of themselves, things not worth crying over or getting upset about losing; it is that they just can't compare to the incredible gift of knowing Christ and growing closer to Him. So please don't take this as me saying you can't grieve or feel upset when you lose things (if I did that, I would probably be the biggest hypocrite ever!) but rather an acknowledgement of the fact that while loss absolutely does cause suffering, we don't want to stay stuck there.

3. Forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead.

Sometimes I think we have this expectation that things here on earth will last forever (or at least for our lifetimes) when God has something much shorter-term than that in mind. We want a family business that extends through generations; a legacy home that is passed down to grandchildren; relationships that we grow old with...basically, we want things to last. But...what if God has other plans? What if His timeline is shorter than ours? What if He gives us some beautiful blessings to enjoy and learn from and savor for a season...but then He gently tells us it's time to be done, and He removes them in order to help us know Christ more? Maybe those things that we want to cling to and make last forever would end up somehow turning our hearts from Christ, or at least keeping us stunted in our growth and knowledge of Him. I know for me, the times I have experienced loss are the times when I have pressed in even closer to God and have learned things about Him that I either never knew, or needed to experience in a deeper way; and I never would have learned those things if He hadn't allowed the loss to take place. I think that's how loss somehow becomes gain; it isn't that having that beautiful blessing in and of itself was bad or wrong at all; it's that keeping it outside of the season set by God for it could cause us to grow stagnant in our faith and growth, and Him removing it allows us a deeper fellowship with Him. 

One of the gifts I got for my birthday this year was one of those cool stickers you put on water bottles, and I don't think it was a coincidence that I received this gift the same day that I read this passage in Philippians. God likes to reiterate important lessons in my life by repeating the message to my heart, and I'm pretty sure this was one of those cases. The sticker simply says, "Jesus is worth everything you're afraid of losing." He really, really is, Guys. Let's choose to believe that and live it out through every loss-made-gain.

"Lord, thank you for giving us things that hurt to lose. Thank you that we get to experience blessings and gifts that are so good and meaningful that we really care when they end. I pray, though, that we will not let that ache and suffering keep us from releasing them to you or leave us stuck in what you want us to leave behind. Help us, Lord, to strain toward what lies ahead, to see the great gain of knowing you as far surpassing any loss we experience in this world. Keep us in mind of your goodness and faithfulness, meet us where we're at with loss, and allow us the amazing benefit of gaining Christ through every loss. AMEN."