Either……Or…….

Philippians 3:7-8    But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

This scripture will always bring a reflection; always make you want to take a look at your life from the outside; look in to reflect on what you have held, and do hold dear. What is important to you? For so many of us it would fall under the heading of success. Success typically brings with it the perks of it; material possessions that flaunt our success. Working all our lives to impress those that surround us, to chase dreams of happiness that are never found in material possessions. I for so long lived in this circle of destruction. It is painful to look back at the last 25 years with the labor, the pain, the false financial security, the cost to my family, the cost to my health, the list of damage that fell in the path of empty pursuits under the heading of success.

Paul was very successful by worldly standards. His accomplishments even from birth had molded him into a great man to those that knew him and even in his own eyes. He had gained knowledge and power, and was growing in power in the church; Paul (then Saul) was full of pride. Philippians 3:4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. He had it all he thought, yet he lacked the one thing that mattered; Christ. Jesus came to him on the Damascus road and changed his outlook on life forever. He saw his sin, and he saw the need for a Savior. He became the great apostle Paul who’s life was used by God to write most of the New Testament and give us the example of a disciple; a life dedicated to Christ.

James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. You can work 80hrs a week to enjoy your trophies of success for a few hours a week. You can work yourself to the bone, only to have a illness rob you of your plans for the rewards of retirement. You can pour your entire life into the pursuit of success and leave a wake of destruction in those close to you that truly matter. You can also pursue a life dedicated to becoming a disciple of Christ’s just like Paul and enjoy an eternity of retirement in heaven. Will you spend your time here pursuing the eternal, or the temporary? You have a choice to make. Either invest your energies in the temporal, or the eternal.