It has pleased the Father to make Christ the Center and Circumference of all creatures and all things in Heaven and on the earth. We Christians are to be the firstfruits of the new Christ-centered creation.

We miss the mark when we proclaim that Christ came to give people this or that or to set them free so they can realize their own destiny. Christ did not come to set people "free." He came to make them His own possession. There is a critical difference here. It is the difference between the False Prophet and the Holy Spirit.

God has several objectives He is accomplishing through the Lord Jesus: the filling of the universe, spiritual and material, with Christ; the construction of a living, eternal temple for Himself; the perfecting of a bride for His Son; the creation of a Body for His Son; the bringing forth of many sons of God, many brothers of Christ, in the image of Christ; the training of priests and kings to rule the worlds to come; the destruction of Satan and all his works; the multiplying of His own Divine Being.

God's objectives cannot be achieved while we are preoccupied with our own needs and desires. They can be achieved only as we are willing to "die," to lose ourselves in the will of Christ. It is impossible for us to press into the Kingdom of God until we forsake everyone and everything else. No man can serve two masters. We must cast aside our own life for Christ's sake and the Gospel's.

This does not mean we are to ignore our loved ones or our circumstances. It does mean, however, that in our heart we are to place every person, every thing, and every circumstance on the altar of God until the will of Christ has free course in our life. Paul had done this. He was clinging to nothing except Christ.

The true Christian saint, the overcomer, is the one whom the Holy Spirit is setting free from all idols so he or she may come to know Christ more perfectly.

What was Paul's opinion of all the things he had lost in order to gain Christ?

They are dung, trash, rubbish, garbage, refuse.

The concept of winning Christ, of gaining Christ, is an important idea for us to consider. Obviously, Paul was not referring to believing in Christ for salvation. No doubt Paul was not struggling to be saved from wrath at this point in his life. What, then, does he mean when he states that he has forsaken everything in order to win Christ, to gain Christ?

It is clear from the passage we are studying that there is more to Christianity than our initial acceptance by faith of the Lord and Savior, Christ. The true Christian discipleship is a lifelong effort to gain Christ.

It is not that we earn a favored position with the Lord Jesus, although an element of that may be present. Rather it is true that there is so much of Christ to grasp that our diligent attention is required every day of our life in order to make any substantial progress in laying hold on the Glory that is in Christ and is Christ.

To be continued.