Philippians 3:8–9

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.

Oscar Wilde once defined a cynic as the person “who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”. His observation well describes our cynical society today. It often takes a serious illness or an accident for people to start looking hard at what is most valuable in life. Here the apostle Paul was running through this exercise for himself. His detractors said that what mattered most was obeying the Jewish law and his answer was that if they wanted to play that game then he was the runaway winner. He was circumcised on the eighth day of his life as every little Jewish boy should be. He came from the favoured tribe of Benjamin so he was, as he described himself, “a real Hebrew if ever there was one” (v5)! He was also trained as a Pharisee and was so committed to his Jewish faith that he was happy to persecute the Church. But all of that was, for him, just a pile of garbage alongside the blessing of knowing Jesus.

What matters most to you? Is it your family, nationality, education, house, car, job, financial security – or is it Jesus? The point is not that our family, education and possessions are insignificant or unimportant. They are all part of God’s gift to us so

we should treasure them and continually thank God for them. However, when put alongside the blessing of knowing Jesus all those other things are temporary and relatively unimportant. There’s nothing more vital than to sort out the priorities in our lives because all our decisions will flow from that. The way we use our time, money and talents will all be determined by that fundamental decision. Paul would say to us today that we can never make a better decision than to give Jesus that pre-eminent place in our lives.

Question

What matters most to you?

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the incredible blessing of knowing you. Forgive me for those times when I have allowed other things to get in the way. Amen