"Loss"

How much I’ve lost is hard to know,

For loss in life and how it shows,

Can cause deep grief that slowly grows,

Consuming all our strength.

And hollowed out, and lean and poor,

A shadow of what went before,

We miss the mark, and every door,

Until His love at length.

Chases long to bring us home,

To show us we are not alone,

A promise to restore what’s gone,

And says no matter what,

We may have done, have left to do,

Or if we took a lie for true,

And stooped down low, made others blue,

We still can make the cut.

‘Cause grace restores all that we lost,

The Savior there paid every cost,

Hanging bloody on the cross,

His death became my gain.

And when they ask my sacrifice,

And if I’ve had to pay a price,

I try to make it clear, precise,

And speak in Jesus’ name.

That anything that I let go,

Counts for nothing this I know,

Because His love so clearly shows,

God’s generosity.

Took from me what made me sick,

Showed me love through thin and thick,

Lit again a smoldering wick,

He gave so much, you see,

There’s no loss left for me.

“For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may gain Christ….” (Philippians 3:8, NLT)

Paul speaks of that change he has made in appraising what is valuable to him. Things that used to be important don’t matter anymore to him. In fact he makes the startling claim that everything of value has become worthless when compared to knowing Jesus. He knows he has sacrificed much to follow Jesus, but in the end, anything he’s given up is only garbage. Pretty amazing perspective, don’t you think? So what about the notion that God requires us to pay a high price to follow Him? He requires us to love Him wholeheartedly, seek His Kingdom above all else, die to our selfishness, and obey His will. But none of this was considered a “loss” to Paul. Why? Because of the immensity of the grace the Lord gave him. And the grace was so wonderful, he gave little regard to the change required to receive it. That’s getting it right.

Lord, help us to accurately appraise the value of anything we have sacrificed for You, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Kenneth Wyatt, used by permission. Thanks, Kenneth, and God bless you.