Day 62 - Gain & Loss

This might be a quickie. We'll see how quickly I can get my thoughts out this morning.

Yesterday, I was reading John and this verse stuck out to me.

John 9:⁴¹Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

This morning I read this:

^{Phil 3:8}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 thought of this:

^{Mark 8:36} And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

It seems like in all of life, we're out to gain something. We work long and hard to gain education, so many of my friends are house hunting, job hunting... I go shopping so I can gain what I "need". There's nothing essentially wrong with these things... until they start to take over and control you and start becoming obsessions. That need to have, to attain, to add to your collection... I totally feel it and I totally need to do a heart check all the time to remind myself that this is not what I live for.

Oh what I wouldn't give to see Anderson again. Everywhere I look, I'm hit with memories and then reminders that he's no longer here with me. It's such a great mystery to me how this man, this dude I didn't even know ten years ago, could now be so inextricably intertwined in my being that I can't do anything without it reminding me of him.

I'm thankful for his life. So thankful. But I also am thankful for what has happened after his death. Not to say that if God had given me the choice that I would have chosen for our lives (or my life) to end up this way... but I see how through this great loss, I have gained a heart of flesh... I've gained a hunger and desire to know God more... and because of that, I'm living a richer, more abundant life now more than any other time in my life. My earthly loss has become an eternal gain. Not a bad deal... especially when it comes with the promise that I'll see him again one day for an eternity. It'll be a double gain one day. And what is a lifetime in comparison to an eternity? Isn't it said that life is like a wisp in the wind... a drop in the ocean? Small loss in this life isn't really a huge deal in light of eternity.

What the world counts as gain... I can totally see how Paul would say that he counts it as loss. The more you lose in this world, whether it be your sight, freedom, a husband, security in an earthly future... the more you are able to gain Christ.

K, it's been about 20 minutes and I need to stop writing now. I don't want to give the impression that I don't mourn with people who undergo tragic losses. It's still painful. It's suffering to some degree. I also don't want you to think that I want everyone to stop school, stop looking for a job or a house, break up your marriage and give up everything they own... but... would you throw it all out in the trash...if it meant gaining your soul?