-Jesus Christ is better. He simply is better, better than anything or anyone. He is the Pearl of great price, the treasure for which we sell all that we have in order that we might gain it (Matthew 13.45-46). It is not knowledge about Christ - it is knowing Him. If you don’t know Him, this will sound like utter foolishness, but that is because you have never met Him... Yet how does one ’know’ Someone whom you normally cannot see or hear? How does one come to realize that this One is so much better than anything or anyone else as to inspire total abandonment of self? It is coming to know Him along the journey of faith, thru the eyes and ears of the heart, getting to know Him thru the pages of Scripture and thru communion of the soul as we journey together the course of this life.
-WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ACTUALLY GAIN CHRIST? WHAT MIGHT THAT LOOK LIKE?
-We’re not just talking about head knowledge and a life of rote obedience and service. there should be an element of really knowing Christ, knowing what He is like and what He wants and what pleases Him. There will be communion and intimacy and the joy of being in relationship with Him. for many in the church today, their relationship with Christ is like that of the lost son’s obedient-yet-spiritually-arid older brother. He missed the joy of communion with his Father just as much as his prodigal brother did (Luke 15.25-30).
-Paul is using financial terms, yet he is in fact not talking about material wealth but rather those things which which do (or do not) count for eternity and recommend us to God Himself. He is thinking about things that somehow would (or would not) provide us with spiritual advantage and better footing vis a vis a right standing with God. But in the end Christ Himself will (should) actually supplant whatever other things we may have been seeking to acquire or accomplish or otherwise experience. Compared to knowing and gaining Christ, anything and everything else is so much garbage, good only to be thrown out. You throw it off and leave it behind in pursuit of knowing Christ and becoming more like Him.
-Note that there is a leaving behind, a counting all things loss and a letting go which precedes the joy of laying hold of Christ and the promises and blessings of God. It has always been this way. Abram had to leave behind his home and family in ur with no idea of where he was going. Moses and Israel had to leave their homes in Egypt behind. Peter and the disciples had to leave their families and homes and livelihoods behind. All these let go of the familiar and the certain because they were hoping to gain something far better (Hebrews 11.16) - promises which they did not receive before their leaving and which in some cases never received in this lifetime (Hebrews 11.39). But they believed that God was better, better by far than whatever they were leaving behind and letting go. Remember however that faith is the conviction of THINGS NOT SEEN (Hebrews 11.1). This is not something for the five physical senses. You must believe in the absence of tactile or optical confirmation that God IS and that He IS a Rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11.6). You don’t see the Heavenly Treasure with physical eyes but rather with the eyes of faith - you see this from a distance (Hebrews 11.13). You draw near in your heart to the One in Whose presence is fullness of joy and in Whose right hand are pleasures forever (Psalm 16.11), and you taste and see how good He really is (Psalm 34.8). You see Him Who is unseen (Hebrews 11.27) and pursue Him, following wherever He may lead. Nech sa pači...
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