What things were "gain" to me?

Philippians 3:1-11 - "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ...."

I was born and raised in a Baptist, church-going family. I was a "good kid" - a leader in the church youth group, class chaplain through most of high school. I helped found a Christian service club at the school. I was "called to the ministry," attended a Baptist college, majoring in Religion and minoring in Greek. I married a good Baptist girl who said she was "called to be a pastor's wife"....  My good name was gain to me. So was the respect of my peers and loved ones. Serving the Lord "in the ministry" was gain to me. Knowing what I was going to do with my life was gain to me. Having a wife who shared that ministry was gain to me, and so was going to seminary.

And I lost it all.  The marriage was a little stormy, mainly because she married me to get away from her alcoholic parents and "hoped the love part would come later."  After a few years, she decided she wanted out and left. (That's the short version - relationships are always more complicated than that.)  At any rate, all those dreams, all those things I counted as "gain," slipped through my fingers.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.... and no one shall snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:28).  Over time, because He never let go of me, I realized that I had been clinging to all the trappings the world could offer a young man entering the ministry, more than I was clinging to Him.  Because He never let go, I learned that all those things I had been clinging to were temporal - including "the ministry."  (Hopefully, "ministry" will have eternal results, but a ministry career is itself temporal).

Whatever you are clinging to: a job, a ministry, "the" ministry, your parents, your spouse, or children, or siblings, a house, a car, a pet, or even your own life - let go.  Fall into the Father's arms.  Nothing can snatch you from there.  Cling to Him.  Seek Him first and His righteousness, and everything else you need in life will be added back to you.  Quit trying to get your needs met.  Meet Him.  Love Him.  Seek Him.  Know Him.  Count all those things you have considered to be gain, or a benefit to yourself to possess, as loss.

(Tomorrow, we'll take this to the next level)