My first car was a ’55 Chevy. Beauty. My parents gave it to me. For free! They said it was mine . . . and that I could drive it as soon as I could pay for putting a new engine in it. That was the first investment in what soon became my “pride and joy.” There would be a few more investments in it over the next couple of years. Nothing too extravagant . . . but where it needed it . . . and I could afford it . . . I’d put a few dollars into “my pride and joy.” At one point, after someone had rear-ended me, the insurance company deemed it a “write-off”. I took the money . . . kept the car . . . and got ‘er fixed up. Within the next year or so, though, I would write-off the car again . . . I was driving it at the time . . . but I wasn’t awake . . . no fixing ‘er up this time. The car was gone . . . my “pride and joy” had become pummeled and junk . . . time to move on . . . in more ways than one.

Write-offs tend to be difficult. When you write something off you essentially walk away from something you invested in or valued. For whatever reason that something becomes nothing . . . the value’s no longer there . . . the investment no longer makes sense. This morning I’m thinking on the write-off that Paul took.

His folks and he had invested a lot into his pedigree. Circumcised, just as a good Jewish boy should be, on the eighth day . . . a proud, nationalistic Israelite, able to trace his heritage back to the tribe of Benjamin. Reared in the things of being Hebrew and soon determining for himself to pursue being as Hebrew as he could be . . . sticking with, and excelling in the rabbinical school system, he climbed the ladder of religious accomplishment . . . eventually his investment paying off — declared a Pharisee. But not just any Pharisee, he was a Pharisee’s Pharisee . . . not content with the title and position . . . driven by a sincere (though misguided) zealousness, he pursued righteousness according to the law to the nth degree . . . to such an extent that he persecuted any Jew who said that there was another way to favor with God. A life long investment . . . a focused pursuit . . . his pride and joy . . .

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 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 count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” — Paul (Philippians 3:7-8)

A life’s work . . . written off. A significant investment . . . scrapped. A “pride and joy” . . . counted loss for Christ. Paul came to a point (aided by a little visit from the Lord Himself on the road to Damascus) where he realized that it was time to write it off and move on. The things he valued, didn’t line up with the value system of heaven. The things he pursued, he realized would eventually only lead to a dead-end road. The things that he felt defined his worth, he realized had displaced the One who was worthy. Sometimes, you gotta’ write it off . . . and that’s when it starts to get pretty exciting!

It wasn’t that Paul stopped investing . . . stopped pursuing . . . stopped being driven . . . but now it was directed toward “gaining Christ.” The goal became to know and be known by the Risen Lord of Heaven. The prize shifted from terrestrial achievement and recognition to celestial glory and riches. He exchanged the pursuit of a religion of works for a righteousness by faith. He moved from making a name for himself, to making known the Name above all names! He dumped it all in the trash, that he might embrace Christ (MSG).

It probably makes sense, from time to time, for me to look at what I’m investing in . . . and for what reasons. Might be time to write some things off and renew my focus toward seeking first the kingdom of God. Oh, that the pursuit of Christ . . . the desire to gain Him . . . might not fade or be choked out by other “investments”. That I might know, more and more, the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord . . . for my eternal blessings . . . for His eternal glory . . . amen.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliot