Throwing out the trash for the treasure …

My one time of owning a home was one of those unique once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

When I purchased a home, I bought a new one (shown in the picture to the right).

Not an existing home, a new one that had to be built.

I was able to pick out the lot, see the foundation poured, and watch the construction slowly progress. When the day to move in finally arrived, a couple trucks pulled up in front of the brand new house. But they weren’t bringing old things to a new home; instead, the trucks were loaded with new furniture. Nearly everything that went into the new house was also new, right down to bed sheets, towels, silverware, pots and pans, electronics, and window dressings.

When I moved in, I only brought a few personal items. Everything else was new.

I’ll probably never again have an experience like that, but moving into that house was really leaving behind a lot of old stuff to discover something new.

That’s how the Apostle Paul describes his relationship with Jesus Christ. He cast aside all the things of his old life to seek with great diligence the most intimate relationship possible with Jesus Christ in a brand new life as a disciple of Jesus …

“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 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. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” Philippians 3:7-11.

To put it simply, Paul threw out the trash of the world to gain the treasure of Christ!

The things of this world don’t mix with the things of Christ, there’s room for only one or the other. It’s like the story recorded in “The Art of Achievement and Fulfillment” by Nkem Mpamah about master martial artist, Bruce Lee:

A master martial artist asked Bruce Lee to teach him everything he knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups, both filled with liquid. “The first cup,” said Bruce, “represents all of your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all of my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.”

In the same way, to fill our lives with the treasure of Christ we must empty our lives of self and all the things of the world we have embraced and absorbed.

Have you thrown out the trash in favor of the treasure that is Jesus Christ?

Scotty