Philippians 3:7-8

"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"

Paul gave us a great example of giving up all to gain Christ. If he had so chosen, he could have been in very high standing with the world (vs.4-6) yet he didn't. Why Not? Paul had found something so much greater than anything the world could give, and that is to know Christ. Paul encourages to not only give up the worldly status, possessions, pleasure, but "count them as rubbish". We need to realize that being Christians is not about giving up fun stuff for god, but rather, realizing that the stuff we once called fun or good is really junk. There is joy infinitely more fulfilling in Christ than in anything the world can offer.

An important thing I noticed is that Paul doesn't say, you can give it up to get Christ, but you must. He lost all his things, IN ORDER to gain Christ. I take this as a warning, that we cannot experience Christ fully without completely abandoning the importance we place on insignificant worldly things.