skubalon

In Philippians 3.4-6 Paul lays out his "qualifications" for being highly regarded by men. He has an impressive resume' for the criteria demanded by the religious ruling class of the day. Down in verse 8 Paul makes an equally impressive comparison of his strengths just listed to the surpassing greatness or excellency of knowing Christ. Paul considers the bullet points so desirous by men as dung or rubbish. At Winterfest there was an emphasis on all the things our society encourages us to pursue. In comparison to knowing Christ it is all "skubalon." Skubalon is the Greek word for dung or rubbish; things worthless and detestable.

Jesus pointed this out to the Pharisees who loved money in Luke 16.15b "... What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight." The stage at Winterfest was filled with stuff like an electric guitar, big screen TV and a ton of other things representing all of the valuable stuff in the character's life in the skit. After dying, this person was awarded the prize of everything he had valued in his life. In comparison to the joy of knowing Christ and receiving eternal life, it all looked like skubalon.

In our day to day lives it is extremely challenging to abandon the life of trying to accumulate skubalon and instead embrace the life of accumulating the treasure, the prize, the crown that will not tarnish, rust or get stolen. Recognizing skubalon when we see it and placing our priorities on the things having an eternal value is a challenge not limited to our teenagers.