>“What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ,” wrote Paul. “Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of ChristJesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him . . . that I may know him . . .” (Phil. 3:7-10). When Paul says he counts the things he lost “dung”, he means not merely that he does not think of them as having any value, but also that he does not live with them constantly in his mind: what normal person spends his time nostalgically dreaming of manure? Yet this, in effect, is what many of us do. It shows how little we have in the way of true knowledge of God.” ~J.I. Packer