What Was Gain Is Now Loss

Philippians 3: 7-14

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 
that I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 
in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 
Brothers, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Whatever things were gain to me are now loss for detracting from Christ in my life. 

I won't attain the goal of the Resurrection of the dead until Jesus returns, but I will continue to press on, putting in the past what is in the past, and stretching forward to reach what lies ahead, toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

This is a new day, the "first day of the rest of my life." A new start on doing what I can toward the benefit of God's Kingdom that is here on Earth within us now, and will cover the World at His return. 

O my Father, help me, strengthen me to do these things. Teach me how to keep the past in the past, how to reach forward to lay hold of what You are offering me, and to allow the loss of whatever is keeping me from fully embracing You and Your ways in my life. 

Father, you allowed Saul of Tarsis, the Pharisee, to give up all his standing in the community, and the wealth it gave him, to become Paul the Apostle and Evangelist, travelling the whole known World, supporting himself as a tentmaker, and depending on the generosity of strangers to meet his needs. 

I feel like I am on my way to do what Paul did, and I am looking forward to see what that will look like for me. I am not Paul, I am not like Paul in many ways, but I trust that You gave me the dream of vagabonding the World spreading the seed of the Gospel, much like Paul did. 

And I have given up my mansion for a small house, which I don't consider a sacrifice at all, any more than Paul did, in counting all he had before as garbage. 

Father, now that I have turned this corner of ridding myself of that burden and becoming debt-free, please show me step by step what You would have me do to obey You in sowing the seed of the Gospel wherever You have determined is fertile soil. 

Lead me, Father, take my hand and guide me into the very path You have designed me to traverse in this World, until Jesus returns to claim His own. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!