But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:7-8, TNIV).
This has always been a hard verse for me, because essentially Paul is putting my life in perspective. I have to put Christ first. Jesus has to be such a high priority that in comparison, everything else in my life is garbage. Dross. Trash. Worthless. Nothing.
That means my husband and my family. My job. My friends. My hobbies. My ministries. In comparison to my dedication and commitment to Jesus, they’re nothing but garbage.
That’s really hard for me. I’m sure it’s hard for other people too. You don’t want to consider your kids garbage, right?
But I think Paul is saying that the things and people in our lives that might seem important are actually not as important as our relationship with Jesus. When we put Jesus first, we enable Him to transform us. And when we become more like Him, we can love our family even more deeply and we can do our jobs with even more dedication and wisdom.
It’s hard to put Jesus first in my life, because I want to be first in my life, and I want to put the things that I care about the most as the highest priorities. It’s a daily struggle for me to seek Jesus’ will above my own wants and desires, to act according to how He’d want me to act, to allow Him to daily mold me into a better person. Molding can be painful!
But I know it’ll make me whole. It’ll make my life beautiful.
FAITH STEP: What in your life are you putting as a higher priority than Jesus? How can you put Jesus first in your life and practice “taking out the garbage” today?
Written by Camy Tang
