Loss is gain

It's a funny thing. It seems like the moments of life we remember most often center around the loss of something.

When you're sitting around with family or old friends, you don't say, "Remember the time that lady gave me a stick of gum?"

No, you say, "Remember the time Junior tried to climb over the fence and lost his pants?"

Of course, many memories are more serious: a broken arm, the loss of family to divorce, the death of a loved one. But it all speaks to the fact that there is no satisfaction is what is given to us, but in what shapes us and molds us, even in the most difficult times. It's the reason that when we read a good book or see a good movie, there is always a conflict, a challenge, a hole to get out of.

Speaking of holes, my daughter has a new hole in her teeth -- right there in the front, bottom left center to be exact. It's the result of the loss of her first tooth. Now that's a memory.


So may it be for us as Christians. We don't think much about the times when life cruised along, but it's the times of loss that stand out. It's the reason why Paul wrote as he did in Philippians 3:7-9:

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 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 be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

And more simply in Philippians 1:21:

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."