There came a day when my mom wanted to do something nice for her four daughters, so she decided to buy us all rings, and not cheap ones either. Which one did I want? None. I never really wore rings except for my wedding ring, and I didn’t see any reason to have one just sitting in a drawer somewhere so one day I could give it to my child. There wouldn’t be any sentimental value to her either because I would never have worn it. So, I told my mom all was fine and I didn’t need a ring, but appreciated the thought, but she felt I needed something from her.
There were only two things I ever wanted from my mom, one was the crèche (manger) we had out at Christmas for as long as I could remember. The other was a necklace that I saw her wear for special occasions. It was an interesting necklace with three lines of clear stones off of a longer one, with silver coloured metal. So, I said, “if you really want to give me something, I would like that necklace…” and I explained which one. “But that’s not worth very much,” she replied, “I’m spending a lot on the rings.” To me, her necklace was of far greater value than any ring she could ever give me. To me it was priceless.
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 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 Php. 3:7,8 NKJV
To me, all the expensive jewelry in the world couldn’t stack up to the one piece I really wanted. Just before the above scripture, Paul is saying how valuable his life had been, but once he had found Jesus, and Jesus had changed his life, then everything else that had been important or valuable in his life was no longer considered important compared to the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ. Everything else became like rubbish- unimportant and to be disposed of. Fanatical? Some would say so, but what would Jesus say.
The very first commandment is to love our Lord with all of our physical and mental being (Dt. 6:5; Lk. ) and we are to seek first the kingdom of God
I’m beginning to wonder if the reason we aren’t seeing the power displayed in His people today is that we don’t value knowing the Lord and His power more than the other things and people in our lives. Perhaps we have not crucified our flesh at the cross and so we are not ready to have His power flowing through us. Whatever it is, I’m ready to say, “Lord, You truly are more valuable to me than anything. Help me be conformed to Your death and count the rest as loss.”
What about you?