That's Garbage!

“ 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 counted them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:8

     The end of this verse really stuck out to me. I have suffered the loss of all things and counted them as rubbish, hmm....I don’t know about you but when was the last time that you were sad when you saw the garbage truck take away your trash?
    Why would someone suffer the loss of trash? Why would they miss it at all?
     But the thing is... don’t we all? We have been cleansed of our filth and the wicked ways which we have walked, yet many times I find that I can’t stop looking back. If you know me at all, you know that I think ...way too much...about everything. It’s a gift when used in the way the Lord wants, but apart from that it can become a curse ( doesn’t everything pretty much work like that). I’ve often found myself reminiscing on the days of my rebellion, and not in a negative way either. I’ve found myself in the sandals of the Israelite crying out for the onions of Egypt, I’ve been Lot’s wife as she takes that one last fatal look at Sodom and Gomorra...but the question still begs...why!?
     If I’ve given my life, my all, to Christ then why is it that even though I mentally count all of my past experiences without Christ as rubbish that a part of me continues to mourn and suffer their loss, even if it’s only a little bit?
   For me personally, the Lord has shown me that while I’m quick to offer up my best to Him, I still haven’t fully grasp the art of giving Him my bad. Instead of releasing the burden of my failures and mistakes, instead of surrendering the years that the locust have eaten away and accepting redemption, instead of giving HIm my heart the good and the plain gross, I’ve only offered up the better half. I’m still carrying the bad with me, the reason that I turn back to those times is because I still carry them with me. I’m still carrying around a decaying corps with me, of course I’m going to get a whiff of the stench every now and then and be reminded of who the corpse was and what it did.
     But God has shown me that I really am a new creation in Him, and that He’s seen the dead carcass the entire time, psalm 139, He knows me, He sees my heart, I cannot be hidden from Him especially not now that I’m His daughter. It’s time to drop the carcass and embrace the freedom of forgiveness. It’s only when I finally truly count it as loss to carry around my burdens, that I’ll finally fully gain CHrist.
    And while this is drenched in Christianese and cheesy saying we have all heard before, it is true, it is genuine and for the first time God is showing me that those “cheesy” phrases can many time hold the keys to unlocking the shackles around your feet, if you’ll only be willing to let them truly sink in.
   Want to know something else?....
“ And I will restore to you the years that the Locust have eaten...”- Joel 2:25

Application:
         I will recite Joel 2:25 when I feel the weight of my past start to creep in on me, and go to someone I trust and share my burden and be transparent with them.