Eternal Gain or Garbage?

Philippians 3:7-11    
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 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 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

All we have in this life seems as necessary and vital gain, but is really loss in light of knowing and following Jesus Christ into eternity.  Knowing Him is of infinite value, and makes losing our affection and grip on pursuits of this life vital and in some ways, easier.  If things are difficult to put last, we remember Paul’s life and how he here put this perspective on it - if not for Christ and His kingdom, it is to be seen as if it were a useless rotting pile of garbage.  He saw this view as the only way to keep Christ first against the backdrop of the righteousness of Christ alone by faith alone in light of the resurrection of the cross and the suffering shared in Him.  Paul demonstrated to us what it means to conform to His death of the self denial and suffering which ended in a new life in the eternal presence of the Father.  Knowing Jesus Christ is the reason for existence and its unending, crowning joy.  We gain everything in Him and lose nothing of real value.