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After talking through all of his credentials as a Pharisee, Paul goes on in verse 8 to say how much of it is lost when compared to knowing and being saved by Christ; What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Paul learned long ago how little everything else matters when compared to Christ. My question to myself becomes, why do I work so hard to attain anything? Why don’t I just take Paul’s example and realize the only thing that really matters is the saving knowledge of Christ and helping others to find out the same things? It is my pride, greed, and selfishness that needs to be checked at the door of my life in order to fully enjoy a relationship with Him. Everyday I come closer to wanting nothing more than Him. May The Lord use me or take me home because everything else is rubbish.
Daily Devotion 
12 “I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize. 13 My friends, I don’t feel that I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead.”
I love that line “but Christ has taken hold of me.” Isn’t that just how it is? Being taken hold of? It goes back to Bonhoeffer’s realization of being “grasped by God.” There is so much security knowing that I have allowed him to take hold of me. I keep moving forward, I keep reaching toward the prize, but without the anxiety that comes with human striving. There’s a peace and security in it knowing that God has me in his grasp.