Tag Archives: Philippians 3:7-8

Finding treasure and leaving it behind

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Imagine winning a contest with a big cash reward but instead of collecting your prize, leaving it unclaimed. Or imagine a realtor showing you the perfect house, saying “It’s yours, free of charge.” But instead of moving in, you walk away. Crazy, right?

 

But that’s what happened to Simon, James, and John. Fishing was their livelihood. It was all they knew. But on this certain day they hadn’t caught anything. Jesus showed up and told them to lower their nets one more time and they caught such an abundance of fish it took two boats to bring in the bountiful catch! What would you do if you were them? Would you rush to market to collect your profits? Would you ask Jesus, “Show me your favor!” Would you plead with him to make you even more successful? Perhaps many would think that way. But that’s not the response of these men. Instead, they “left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:11)

 

Astounding! Here, they just received what they had been diligently pursuing and then they just leave their treasure to rot on the shore. Why? Because they recognized something of greater value. They had a genuine encounter with the real Jesus.  They recognized him for who we was. His authority, power, and compassion were so real that they were compelled to follow him, leaving all other treasure for the sake of being with him and to become “fishers of men.”

 

It’s what Paul experienced: “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”

 

All the world’s profits are like a huge catch of fish rotting on the shore, compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. I wonder if you’ve had such an encounter with the real Jesus.

 

We’re sometimes persuaded to think we have to make Jesus more “appealing” to others. But that’s never how he presented himself. He saw people and met them with compassion. People who met the real Jesus found him completely compelling just as he was. He healed a leper and freed a man from a life of paralysis. He ate with “sinners,” saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

 

I wonder if you have met this Jesus whose authority and love are so real and so valued that you are compelled to follow him. And not just follow but leave everything else behind as if it were rubbish, compared to the worth of knowing him more. If so, he leaves us with a parable for how to follow him. He tells us that we should not put new wine in old wineskins because they will burst, spilling the wine and ruining the wineskins. So it is for us also. If we try to put the new life of Jesus into our old way of living, it will be just as disastrous. What should we do? Set the old ways aside. Leave them on the shore. Walk away and follow Jesus – completely. Live the new life fully and without regret or turning back.

 

Jesus says, “Follow me.” What is your response?

 

One minute to leave

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We’ve seen it played out on TV and read it in stories and news. Perhaps you have experienced a tragedy first hand where you had just one minute to leave your house for another place of safety. Whether it be a gas leak, an explosion, a fire, or other catastrophe, we are warned: “Get out immediately. Don’t go back for the cat or dog or any prized possessions. Your life is the most important thing to save. ”

But if you could grab one thing by the side of your bed or by the door on the way out, what would it be? Your wallet and cell phone? The family photo album? And what if it weren’t an impending catastrophe but a sudden move that required you downsize to everything but a few suitcases? What would you keep?

We surround ourselves with so many things that pay tribute to the past. I know. I’ve been sorting through things lately, prioritizing ones of more value than others and some I am finally ready to let go of. The past has a certain hold on us.

Paul addresses not just the tangible things we hold on to from the past but also our very identity…what we are known for. He concludes:
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”

Think about that…whatever awards you have achieved, whatever papers you have written, things you have created, accomplishments you’ve attained, or possessions you have accumulated…all these considered as loss for the sole sake of knowing Jesus.

Would you make the trade? Those who know Christ will someday do exactly that, for we take nothing with us when we leave this life for the next. I wonder though, do we sometimes cling too dearly to the things of the past while we live now? What value do they add compared to knowing Jesus and making him known? And to what extent do they actually impede this ultimate goal?

I think of the young pastor from the city who went to visit an old mentor who lived in the country. Entering the cottage, the young man saw only a single room with not much furniture at all. “You don’t have many belongings,” commented the young man. Eying the single suitcase in the young man’s hand, the old man replied, “Neither do you.” The young man said, “But I’m just staying for a short visit.” “So am I,” replied the old man, “so am I.”

This is not a call to get rid of everything you have, though God just may issue such a call. The question for each of us is what do we hold onto and what holds onto us that keeps us from knowing Jesus more fully? You never know when you have just one minute to leave.