But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

Philippians 3:7-8

The passage above is an awesome passage as it recounts Paul reciting his impressive list of credentials to which he considered rubbish (literally “poop”) compared to knowing Jesus.

I think some of us have incredible conversion stories of wild extravagancies, immoral living, ignorant and harmful behavior before meeting Christ, to which, when we say “knowing Christ is really awesome” means almost what Paul meant here.

But for some of us (like me), without a wild conversion experience, we may miss out on what the point of the passage is.

Before meeting Christ, things we did were rubbish in comparison to knowing Him. After meeting Jesus, they’re still rubbish.

Even today, the things I accomplish in life, the gifts, talents, skills, and achievements I have gained in my life both in work and in ministry, are rubbish compared to knowing Jesus.

This passage is not a passage just about Christian conversion; this is a passage about love conversion–where the affections of our heart are radically shifted from worldly things and onto heavenly things to the point of saying “All is crap compared to knowing Jesus!”