“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss…” (Philippians 4:7).
When Paul became a Christian, his prior list of accomplishments was no longer valuable to him. Now he advocated for Gentiles to be admitted to the faith. Ancestry and tribe no longer mattered. The wisdom of the Pharisees had been supplanted by the foolishness of Christ. The persecution Paul was once so proud of was now a mark of shame. Paul lost everything that had mattered most to him, but he wasn’t concerned.
“I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (v. 8).
When I was growing up, my mother’s work involved refugee settlement. Refugees were generally allowed to come to the U.S. with up to two suitcases, but most had fewer possessions. Their losses were overwhelming. Yet the refugees were some of the most hardworking, hopeful people I have ever known. As painful as it was to leave their countries of origin, they knew it was their only choice. They knew family, freedom and faith are more important than any possession, any credential.
This message is excerpted from the Bible study “Crafted in Christ” by Katie Hines-Shah in the July/August 2022 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Bartolome de Las Casas, missionary to the Indies, 1566.
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