Counted Loss
“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,”Philippians 3:7–8 (KJV)
Sometimes we find out what we worship when we lose something. A season comes where you can’t keep everything going, and you have to let something slide: the fitness goals, the side project, the reputation. If it was your identity, letting it go feels like dying.
But if it wasn’t, you find something surprising. You are still okay. You can grieve the loss without losing yourself.
Paul had a long list of things he could have built his identity on, and he let them all go. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”
You don’t have to wait for a crisis to find out. Ask today: what would it cost me to lose this? If the answer is “everything,” it might be time to put it back in its place, under Christ.
Read it yourself
Read Philippians 3:4–14. List the things Paul says he could have trusted in.
What would be hardest for you to lose? What does that tell you about where your identity rests?
Lord, nothing I have is worth more than knowing you. Keep my good things in their place, under you. Amen.