Rubbish

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

Philippians 3:7-11

Could Paul have said it any clearer? I'm not sure it could be stated any more emphatically without using expletives. Paul considered 'all things' rubbish in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ. What would that look like in todays society? What would Paul look like? What would his life consist of in the Western Hemisphere that we call America.
We must work to not filter 'all things' being rubbish through our preconditioned filters of western living. We can easily point to our cars, tv, internet, computers, golf clubs, etc and say yeah, I could count them as rubbish. But what about your money? What about your house? What about the very things that you couldn't imagine living without? What about the ease of living and security that comes with living in America? Paul emphatically states he counts it ALL as rubbish. There is absolutely no room for anything to pass through that filter, especially when juxtaposed to the knowing of Jesus Christ.
It is only when we truly experience God the father, son and Holy Spirit that we will be able to truly say with Paul that we can count it all as rubbish. Sure, you might be able to sustain that for a season apart from him, but that will soon give way. Only by dieing to our self daily and picking up his yoke will we able to stand with Paul and consider all things rubbish.

"Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalms 73:25-26