A Box of Chocolates vs. a Floating Sea Carcass

Forrest Gump told us life was like a box of chocolates because you never know what you're going to get. This existential view of life is 'sweet'. A perspective that frames all the good and bad, gain and loss in a term that we can all appreciate. It's a it-always-works-out-in-the-end sort of plot.

But what about Wesley from the Princess Bride who believes that life is pain, but for true love, it's worth it? He endures the life of a pirate, believes his true love to have abandoned him, gets her back then loses her, is tortured until mostly dead. But, for him, so long as you find true love in this life, its all good.

{You know what? Let's forget the shallow movie plots and get to the Bible}

On Sunday we looked at Mark 8:34-38 where Jesus gives us the way of life for all those who trust in him as Savior and truly follow him. Jesus says that this is life: denial of self, taking up of one's cross and following him by expending one's life for his sake and for the gospel, will gain it. In other words, to deliberately abandon our life/will/soul to him and his gospel is where our life's purpose is found.

If you've been reading along with our Bible reading plan, God so arranged it that we would read Philippians 3 on Monday. There, Paul tells us in his own words what life is like:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. - ”

— Philippians 3:8

All the work of our salvation has occurred through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. Nothing, no right action or wrong thought could add to or take away from the sufficient work of Jesus. Paul discovered this as the most law-abiding Jew the Pharisees had ever produced. So he says, he now counts all things as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him (Phil 3:9).

It's rare to find expletives in the Bible, but here's one: rubbish. This is (really) strong language. In one ancient Greek text, contemporary to Paul, this word is used to describe the dead carcass of a creature that has been floating at sea, rotting and partly scavenged. Can. you. say, "NASTY"!?

ALL THINGS are like a ROTTING SEA CARCASS compared to growing in relationship with Christ.

To know Christ frames ALL of his perspective on ALL of life. Christ's way of living, his teaching, his pattern, all from from Him. This is where Christ-ianity separates from religion. To know Christ is a relational reality that transforms our thinking, feeling and acting. It transforms our understanding of all of history's purpose and direction. It brings comfort in loss, meaning in chaos, solid truth in the soft mud of culture, bearing in the storms of life and purpose for each new day. He draws us up out of our beds in the morning with purpose and he lays us to rest at night with the full assurance that he will keep all his followers in perfect peace, because the object and author of our faith is the unshakable reality.

How does _______ help me to know/love/cherish Christ more?
What is Christ's perspective on my ____________?
Is there a "rotting sea carcass" in my life that I need to let go of?

Loren