Garbage-Free

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.” Philippians 3:9. Sometime in the next few years, before I become too old and feeble, my husband and I want to scale back on our possessions and move to a smaller, more manageable home. The hardest part, I’m finding, is getting rid of stuff, and  after 39 years of accumulation, believe me, there is a lot of stuff!

When Paul wrote this, he was relating, to all of us, how he had come through a similar de-stuffing process in his walk with Christ.  Most of what we know about Paul is written in his letters, after his conversion on the Damascus Road, but we need to go back further to comprehend this passage.  Paul was “somebody” in Jewish society. He was a force to be dealt with both politically and religiously.  He carried a lot of clout, and wasn’t afraid to use it! Here’s how he describes himself; “I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.” Philippians 3:5-6.  That was the “Before” picture of Paul, but God had other plans for this self-proclaimed “pure-blooded citizen of Israel”. The first thing God had to do, in his remodeling process, was to clean house.  Everything that Paul was, no longer mattered, in fact it was a major deterrent to his spiritual growth.  God got Paul’s attention, and like a hoarder clearing out his house, Paul got rid of the “garbage”. “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.” Philippians 3:8.

What is worthless in your spiritual house?  Let’s face it, we all have piles of garbage.  The hard part comes when we hear God telling us to throw it out. But, obey we must.  I know what a joyful achievement a clean earthly house is, even if it’s difficult, now think how much that joy will be amplified when we clean out our spiritual ones. Get out the dumpsters, and start pitching.  Remember, when we lose the garbage we gain Christ!