Bear Traps and Dog Dung

You can trap a bear simply by putting something of interest in a box where the opening is the size of the bear’s paw.  Once it grabs the item, the bear’s fist no longer will fit through the opening and the large animal is now captive.  Paul writes of his tendency to do the same:

The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.”  Philippians 3:7-9, The Message

Don’t you just love his graphic description?  Paul is basically saying he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but instead of a relishing the sweets, he realized it was nothing more than dog dung.  Why?  Because it kept him from the one thing he wanted more than anything else: to embrace Christ and be embraced by him. 

My three-year-old gives the best hugs.  He’ll start fifty yards away, yell out, “big hug!” then come bolting in my direction.  I drop everything as he comes barreling towards me and prepare for his embrace.  Within seconds, he nearly knocks me over as his body quickly gets enveloped in mine.  I savor those hugs.  They are so worth dropping everything for.

If that is what a hug from my little beast is like, can you imagine what it’d be like to be embraced by Christ?  Tears trickle down my cheeks at the mere thought.   I think I’ll drop some dog dung in preparation.  How about you?