Flesh

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death, 11 if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."
Philippians 3:7-11

You see it everywhere. On billboards, in magazines, even right there in your living room. What is it? Advertising. The world of corporate America has researched you to find out what appeals to you, and what kind of advertising gets you to buy certain products, and then they use that information against you. Ever find yourself thinking, "I have just got to get me one of those"? It is probably due to the subconscious seed that has been planted in your brain by advertising. Slick ad campaigns wage war against your logic and intellect, to pull you into walking in your flesh. We find ourselves working harder and harder, to have nicer and nicer things, and then having to work harder and harder to keep them, but never having the time to really enjoy them. So what's the point? The devil knows the pull of certain things on your flesh, and so he orchestrates behind the scenes certain situations to pull your flesh in certain ways, so that your eyes will not be upon Christ.

Position, power, prestige, and paycheck keep pushing us to exhaustion, filling up our time to work, work, work, buy, buy, buy. And we wonder why so many Americans are depressed, and on anti-depressants. We strive for that new position, that will give us the corner office, or make us foreman of the crew, or whatever, to give us the power our ego needs to feed on, so that we will have prestige in the eyes of our neighbors and acquaintances, and hopefully will bring about a better looking paycheck. And so the cycle continues, as we seek to store up for ourselves treasures on earth, motivated by the desires of the flesh.

Paul here, is telling us he had it all: position - he was a Pharisee; power - he was a member of the Sanhedrin; prestige - trained by Gamaliel, one of the best in the land; paycheck - the persecutor of Christians. And yet, he counted all the things that he gained for the flesh and by the flesh, he counted them all as loss, for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ. In fact, he calls these things "rubbish," which is better translated "dung," or in other words, a load of crap (I apologize for the crass-ness). What he is saying, and I too believe it to be true, is that the things that we can earn and accomplish in the flesh, are just a load of crap compared to the privilege of knowing our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And not just knowing about Him, but actually knowing Him.

It means, beloved, that we have such a close relationship with Him, that we know and experience the power of the resurrection in our lives, That is, that we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, and appropriate that power in our lives, the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead. And not only that (and here is where some fall away), is in the knowing the fellowship of His sufferings. Ever had a friend betray you? Jesus knows all about that. Ever been called names? Jesus knows all about that. Ever been labelled as something you're not? Jesus knows all about that. Ever been mocked for what you believe in? Jesus knows all about that. We are comforted in His death, because when you are dead, nothing more can get to you, or hurt, or anything. It is hard for a dead man to be somebody. Matthew 6:20 tells us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to store up treasures in our garage. Beloved, what is more important, the kingdom of earth, or the kingdom of heaven? We say the kingdom of heaven, but then act like the most important is the kingdom of earth. Let us go out there, and begin to store up treasures in heaven, and forget about this world. It isn't our home. We are just passing through. Shalom.