Don’t Feel Sorry For Me

I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.   Philippians 3:8

Paul was saying, “The great passion and investment of my life has been to get more of Jesus Christ. I want to gain Christ; I want to know him. That’s what I’ve been investing in the last thirty years.”

If we were to ask Paul why he invested his life in Christ, he’d say, “I’ve seen the value of his righteousness. I want to be found in him. ‘I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ’” (Philippians 3:9).

Then Paul would explain, “Ever since I caught a glimpse of the future on the Damascus road, I’ve been investing in the day of Resurrection. It won’t be long before I stand in Christ’s presence, so I’m trying to live every day in the light of that awesome reality. That’s why I want to know him and the power of his resurrection. Whatever suffering is involved in following Christ, I will gladly embrace, so that, somehow, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (see Philippians 3:10-11).

When Paul used the word somehow, he was not expressing doubt over whether he would share in the Resurrection but only about how it would happen for him. He did not know whether he would pass through death into Christ’s presence or whether he would be alive when Christ returned. Regardless, Paul had invested his life with a view to the final resurrection.

The apostle was saying, “Don’t feel sorry for what I’ve lost. My position, achievement, and power would have been of no value on the last day. My portfolio is now loaded toward the Resurrection, and I wouldn’t trade that for all the world.”

Many people hold back from following Jesus because they’re worried about the cost. They focus on the cost of following Christ and fail to see the value of following him. It will cost you to follow Christ, to have his righteousness, and to share in his resurrection. I don’t know if it will cost you your career, your financial prosperity, or your freedom, like it cost Paul, but I know it will cost you your pride and your sins.

For further reading, see Philippians 3