I
had a personal moment with the powers of heaven yesterday which led me to
contemplate about Him who affords the salvation to my inadequate soul, a soul which
would otherwise be doomed for eternity.
As
I reflected, my most favourite scripture, from Paul, came to my mind: “….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 3:8-10)
Paul
was ‘a real Jew, circumcised, of the stock of Israel, a Pharisee of the tribe
of Benjamin’ (Philippians 3:5; Romans 11:1). He was highly respected in his
Jewish community yet he turned his back on it and his Jewish family. He
abandoned it all for the ‘excellency of the knowledge of Christ’.
Paul
endured terrible hardships and paid an enormous price for his discipleship and
thereby became the greatest missionary of early Christendom. Repeatedly
imprisoned, thrice beaten with rods, once stoned and left for dead, survived
three shipwrecks, spent a night and a day in waters' deep, dwelt in peril
of robbers and of his own countrymen, lived amongst heathen, in hunger and
thirst, in cold and nakedness (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). And this supersedes it
all....he was scourged by the Jews 5 times, 39 lashes each time (2 Corinthians
11:24). And he considered it all worth it for the ‘excellency of the knowledge
of Christ’.
I
could write pages about Paul. What fascinates me the most about him is that he
viewed his earthly troubles as dross compared to knowing and having Christ in
his life. I imagine we will all one day come to see the advantage and beauty of
this.
This
is the truth that came to me yesterday: There will come a day when all we have
ever stressed over in this life will seem as dross: our sins, our weaknesses,
our worries, our inadequacies, our earthly indignities, our failings, our hurts,
our lack, our embarrassments, our wrongs, our insecurities, our injustices…..
When we stand at the judgment bar
of God with Christ between us and the justice of the Father, we will then see
that all we have been through in this life is but dross compared to our
‘excellency of the knowledge of Christ’ and our faithfulness to Him as our
personal Saviour. Nothing else will matter but this. His mercy will be
extended, the debt to justice paid, the forgiveness given, the slate wiped
clean. We, the penitent, will bow before Him and wash His feet with our tears
and we will go free.
If you were
not,
I would not be,
Silence would
have wept at Calvary!
If you were
not,
I would not be,
Joyless would
be my eternity.
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