“That I May Win Christ”

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”                                     (Philippians 3:8)

What is it to “win Christ” It is to embrace him in the arms of our faith. It is to have his heavenly glory as our Savior and Redeemer, Lord and King revealed in our souls. It is to have his atoning blood sprinkled upon our hearts and consciences in all its purging efficacy. It is to have our hearts melted and swooning and ravished with his infinite, redeeming, dying love. It is to have the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts by his Spirit.

What can rival this? Truly, this is an “exceeding and an eternal weight of glory!” How infinite! How indescribable! How transcendent the everlasting, immutable love of God in Christ is! It is love that passes knowledge! Its length and breadth, depth and height are beyond measure. It is only by the saving power and grace of God the Holy Spirit that any poor sinner is able to say: “What things were gain to me, those I count loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord—that I may win Christ and be found in him.” This is winning Christ.

Before we can thus win Christ, we must have him revealed in us, we must behold his glory, “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” We must see the matchless dignity of his glorious Person, the atoning efficacy of his sin-atoning blood, and the perfection of his righteousness. Oh, that this blessed Immanuel would come down from the heaven of heavens, where he dwells beyond the veil, into our hearts and fill us with himself, that we “might be filled with all the fulness of God!”

Is this not the ambition of your soul? — “That I may win Christ!” When you arise in the morning, may your soul burst with this desire — “That I may win Christ!” When you walk through the day, let this be the panting of your heart — “That I may win Christ!” As you are engaged in your daily business, make this the one thing you must have — “That I may win Christ!” When you lay down upon your bed at the close of the day, make this the prayer of your heart — “That I may win Christ!”

May God the Holy Spirit graciously enlighten your understanding and mine that we may see him with the eye of faith. May he cause us to daily “taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him!” May he give us such daily glimpses of our Savior’s beauty and glory that we are made to see more and more that “he is precious” beyond thought, that our hearts may constantly long and pine after him, crying, “That I may win Christ!”