Original Entry: March 25, 2008
Atascadero, CA
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 hat comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:8-14
I once read a bumper sticker that said, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
Men are trophy hunters.
God has placed a deep desire in every man to win, fight and achieve great trophies. As young boys we compete in sports to win that coveted first place trophy. The teen years bring even greater trophy pursuits such as All-Conference, All-County, All-State, newspaper articles, and the ultimate high school trophy-college scholarship. As men our trophies shift to that trophy car, toys, house, and career, but something profound happens once these have been obtained.
No trophy case fulfills.
The reality is, “He who dies with the most toys, still dies.”
As a man stares into his trophy case full of his childhood victories he realizes that it is an empty box containing nothing of significant value. The more earthly trophies he obtains the more empty his life becomes. It is at the highest place in life that a man can fully understand how low he really is.
At some point every man must conclude that, “I have won the wrong trophies.”
As Paul reflects upon his trophy case he considers it “rubbish” or skubala in the Greek. Skubala, or rubbish, is simply a word that means crap, dung or human feces. Paul had to come to the reality that his trophy case was filled with worldly feces-crap.
As Paul considers a pursuit worthy of his trophy case we come to another work found in both verse 12 and 14. The Greek work dioko or “press on.” Paul said “I press on (dioko) to win the prize.” This Greek work has several meanings but the one that resonates with my heart is what Ralph Martin in Tyndale New Testament Commentaries calls, “a hunting word meaning ‘I pursue’”.
Essentially Paul is saying, “Men, All of these life trophies I have collected over the years are a bunch of crap compared to hunting the greatest trophy of all-Jesus Christ.”
A man’s life trophies are an empty case. The deer and elk mounts in his home are nothing more than a reminder that these are the “wrong trophies.” All of his time, energy and resources must be focused upon pursuing the greatest trophy of all-Jesus. Wasn’t it God himself who said, “If you seek me with all of your heart I will let you find me” (Jeremiah 29:13)?
Didn’t Jesus say, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
Endeavor to become the greatest trophy hunter of all, the God Hunter.
