Cancelled
I was canceled by this world long before canceling was a thing. It canceled me when Christ became my life.
"When Christ, who is our life..." Col 3:4
Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Rev. 22:20
In the meantime, my Savior has done His fair share of canceling me, too...
Satan's accusations - Canceled Rev. 12:10
Satan's threats - Canceled Luke 10:19
Sin's dominion - Canceled Rom. 6:14
The eternal debt of my sin - Canceled Col. 2:13-14
The wrath of God against me - Canceled Rom.5:9
My estrangement from God - Canceled Eph. 2:13
Spiritual death - Canceled Eph. 2:1, 5
The curse of the law - Canceled Gal. 3:13
The stain of my iniquities - Canceled Isa. 1:18
Guilt's relentless nagging - Canceled Heb. 10:22
Shame's shadow over my life - Canceled Isa. 54:4
Fear of death - Canceled Heb. 2:14-15
My inability to please God - Canceled Rom. 8:8-9
The sting of death - Canceled 1 Cor. 15:55-57
The victory of the grave - Canceled 1 Cor. 15:54-57
My past as my master - Canceled Rom 6:6
The eternal ledger of divine justice, once filled with the debts of my iniquities, now bears a single entry: Paid in full by the precious blood of Jesus.
“It is finished.” John 19:30
We might also consider the things that the Apostle Paul spoke of in Philippians chapter 3:5-8 that he consider as loss that he might gain Christ.
“But things were gains to me these I have counted as loss on account of Christ. Moreover, I also count all this things to be loss in account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:7-8).
Let’s take a closer look at this statement of the Apostle Paul. All the gains he listed in the previous two verses, he counted as one big loss, the loss of Christ.
“Circumcised the eighth day; of the race of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamen; a Hebrew, born of Hebrew. As to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness which is out of the law, become blameless (Phil. 3:5-6).
Paul had such a dynamic conversion in Acts chapter 9, that all the zeal he had exercised against the church was now being channeled toward his pursuit of Christ. And he had such a pursuit of Christ that he esteemed the knowledge of Christ more excellent than all the credentials he had built up in Judaism, which he considered to be loss.
It was like he was doing accounting and on one side of the ledger, he listed all the losses in red and on the other side of the ledger, he listed Christ as one great gain. So all the gains from his rich experiences in Judaism were one great loss, which he traded in for all the riches of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ as one great gain.
Moreover, Paul counted all things to be loss and suffered the loss of all things and counted them as refuse or dung that he might gain Christ. There is no way of knowing what the all things were that Paul considered to be loss or that he suffered the loss of, but we can surmise that if would be anything other than Christ.
Paul saw the super excellency of Christ, the supreme preciousness of Christ, the surpassing worth of Christ, that nothing in this life could compare with. And he was more than willing to forsake all, to pay the highest price for, and to give up everything of his past, his present and his future to gain this One.
May we all give ourselves to pursue the supreme preciousness of Christ that we too would be willing to pay the highest price to gain this super-excellent One and count all else to be loss, refuse, dung on account of surpassing worth of Christ, to gain Christ.
The gain of Christ far surpasses any other gain and we too will consider any other gain one big loss of Christ. May this vision of Christ and pattern of the Apostle Paul be ever before us to press us on to pursue toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God.
This is a wonderful reminder as I seem to keep forgetting these truths and nearly fall into despair.
Thanks.