Phillipians 3:7-16
7But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.
10 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well. 16 Nevertheless, we must live up to what we have already attained.
Continuing on what we should be as followers of Christ, I press on hoping the foundation of your faith has been established: Christ crucified, we died in Him and was raised in Him, sins forever forgiven as we are redeemed back to the Father, pursue all holiness in Christ as we live by faith and not by our own understanding, walk out our own salvation through knowing Him personally, follow the Spirit and forsake the flesh.
Paul, in the passages above speaks on how everything in His life, he considers rubbish which also translates into garbage or dung. Basically, it's anything that is discarded and not used like table scraps. So Paul considers everything else to be discarded so that he may gain Christ.
This mentality of his in today's society doesn't fit very well does it. Some are so addicted to their phones they couldn't go 2 seconds without taking a selfie or posting about themselves let alone laying it down to get closer to Christ. Not that I am boasting but the Holy Spirit has convicted me to uninstall TicTok from my phone because I can spend hours looking at mind numbing videos instead of seeking Him. It was a problem but not anymore. Platforms like that are training us to be impatience and have created attention deficits within our youth by pumping them with a new video every minute or two. It creates an addictive dopamine loop and is not far from a drug addiction. As a matter of fact, the tendency to self medicate depression, anxiety and other problems has become a real issue as well though TicTok. Instead of coming to Jesus for help, people are drugging themselves with dopamine hits every few minutes.
So, I consider it refuse now so I can move on into Christ. My addictions have changed. I'm now addicted to my Lord and Savior instead of short videos. That's what Paul has done in his life. He has gotten rid of everything that stood in his way so He can know Christ.
Am I laying down a guilt trip, by no means, yet if we are serious about taking up our cross and following Christ, eventually we will have to adopt the same attitude as Paul. For those that are zealous for Christ, don't chalk this up as another rule or law to follow. Instead, when the Holy Spirit says, it's time to lay this down now, you've got to make a choice. Hesitation to lay anything down when asked is a sign of not surrendering. If a cop asks you to put your hands up and you hesitate, you can get tazzed or shot. Hesitate to lay down your life for the Lord or say no not right now can lead to disconnection and your walk taking a serious turn for the worse. Look at Samson as an example, he disobeyed multiple times which led him to his capture and death. Our inability or hesitation to lay something down at the request of the Holy Spirit will create a rift between God and us. Remember it was disobedience that caused the fall of man in the first place. Gambling your relationship over something as simple as deleting an app is not worth it.
I've learned the hard way when it comes to obedience. I've been on the end of hesitation and refusal and the outcome didn't go too well. When you refuse to lay down something that God is convicted you over, you are effectively stepping away from Him because you don't trust Him. When that happens the enemy has a field day with your mind. They tell you it's OK, no big deal and you can repent later when your ready. Your just not ready to commit to what God wants right now and He shouldn't pressure you into something you don't want to do. Your too weak to go without that, you need it, it helps you, why would He want you to get rid of it. If you drop it today, you'll be right back at it tomorrow so why even try. You've tried before and failed.
A million devices are used to drag you away from a relationship with Christ. If we disobey, just once, we are food for the enemy and we will be devoured, even back to the point of complete disbelief and complete darkness. I for one have been in and out, up and down through the roller-coaster of laying down my life and picking it up again. It's not fun, trust me. Yet each cycle of obedience, disobedience then back to obedience created in me a greater appreciation and love for Christ. Now, I've gotten to a point where my relationship with Him is more precious than an app or anything else for that matter.
It's been a long road to get where I'm at now in Him. Like Paul, I run the race. I relish my relationship with Him and seek a greater one each day. I no longer seek the world but only Him. I no longer seek gifts or favor or blessings or attention from others, instead I seek Him alone.
Now is the time we have to do something. Now is when we can choose. We can't look back, we can't look forward, we can only have now. So, right now, drop everything your doing, including reading this post and go to a quiet place to seek Christ. Just ask for relationship and He'll do the rest. Commit to Him each day. Set your mind on Him and He will make you His home.
To God be the Glory!
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