Philippians 3:7-10 (Declaration #1)

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 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Knowing Christ is the greatest joy ever!! It is such a joy that Paul could say he considers everything a loss compared to knowing Christ. That's quite a statement! Everything includes a lot! Car, house, TV, computer... okay maybe Paul didn't have those but he did have what many of us consider to be the most important thing in life - relationships. Paul even considers the relationships he has on earth--maybe with his family or close friends--to be worthless compared to knowing Christ.

If I try to make that comparison I find it hard to go as far as Paul. I love Jesus with all my heart--don't get me wrong--but when I think about my relationship with Jesus and my relationship with my wife I have a hard time considering my relationship with Jenni worthless compared to Jesus! Now I definitely am not saying we should find our human relationships to be worthless! That's definitely not the goal! But I do notice here that Paul must have known Jesus in a way a lot of us haven't experienced. He was so overwhelmed with Jesus, so committed to Him, so completed enveloped with him that nothing else mattered when He was in the presence of Jesus!

I know what it's like to be enveloped by something. Sad to say, it happens every so often with my computer. I get started on some computer program and lose all conscienceness beyond my monitor. When someone talks to me they may get a response but it may or may not have any understandable meaning in it! At that point, almost everything else doesn't matter; I'm completely engrossed in my computer program.

This is how engrossed with Jesus Paul was. When he saw Him and talked with Him, nothing else mattered. All the thoughts, problems, and difficulties he may have been facing in his life faded away to nothing. They could have been garbage for as much as he cared. He was with Jesus -- don't disturb him!

This is the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with us! He wants us to be completed engrossed with Him and find everything else worthless when compared to Him. Now, this is not going to happen by deciding that you're going to chuck all your stuff because it's worthless compared to Jesus. That has to be the result of your relationship with Him! Trying to make everything besides Jesus worthless is looking at it from the wrong angle. Instead, get to know Jesus better! He is so beautiful, so loving, so compassionate, so interesting! so passionate, so intuitive that when you get to know Him better, the other things are just going to fall by the wayside naturally. Push into Him! Spend time with Him! He is so satisfying! He is everything you are looking for!