Family Bible Study

I have been pondering verses 7-8 the past few days.

Vs. 7-8 – “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

1. Everything is nothing compared to knowing God.

So, everything that we have done where our purpose is not to glorify God (perhaps to glorify ourselves or someone else) is a complete “loss”.  Paul gives the example of all the “good” actions that he did as a righteous Jew.  None of those things are to his profit now.  And everything that we do now is nothing in comparison to knowing Christ.  Paul is not saying that what we do now – in following Christ – is nothing.  It is just nothing in comparison to knowing Christ.  I think this helps us keep our perspectives straight.  If our actions are not for the purpose of knowing Christ, what is the point?

2. Do the actions that God desires because He knows the consequences of them.  All other actions are rubbish.

Along the same lines, the actions that are for the purpose of knowing Christ are what count.  So how should we live?  I have been studying a political philosopher, Hannah Arendt, and while not claiming to be a Christian, she hails the Christian idea of forgiveness as essential for a political system.  She talks about how we will never know what the consequences of our actions will be.  And if we think about it long enough we might be afraid to act at all!  But she says that this is why we need to have forgiveness.  We need to be able to forgive each other for actions so that we can move on to continue acting – otherwise we will be stuck with one action and its consequences lasting forever.  As I was thinking about that, I realized how important it is to then seek the Lord about every step in our lives.  We don’t now the consequences of our acitons but He does.  I want to live where my actions are in line with Christ, where their goal is to know Christ better and where others may see that as well.