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A Time To Lose

Keraza Magazine issue 21, 22 June 3, 2016

Solomon the Sage said in the book of Ecclesiastes: "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" (Eccles 3:1), then he listed fourteen actions and their contrasts for which there is a time. Within his list is, "A time to lose" (Eccles 3:6).

Accepting loss is actually against the nature of the old man, who most of all fears loss, putting forth all efforts for gain. Yet, all who walked in the path of the Spirit learned well that loss is an inseparable part of the path, and the degree of being filled with the Holy Spirit is dependent on the degree of accepting loss. Loss is not linked only to the beginning of the path, but is a cross placed for the struggler each day, and a mortification of all day long. Let not anyone imagine that the cost of walking after Christ is a one-time cost paid at the beginning of the path only, and thereafter the person enjoys pure gain with no losses. Actually, the opposite is true, the more a person advances along the spiritual path, the more the Holy Spirit deals with him with more firmness regarding the need for forsaking and loss, to help free the soul from all strange attachments.

Accepting loss is truly a daily lifestyle. It is an internal readiness to be severed from all attachments of the heart to any person or any item, since the time to lose that Solomon spoke of is always present. Paul the Apostle who jumped for joy saying, "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him" (Philippians 3:7-9), set a clear definition for the principle of gain and loss in the trade laws of the kingdom. True gain, next to which all else is a loss, is having Christ Himself, who alone is the pearl of great price, who deserves a person to go sell all to possess Him.

All who willfully choose to lose honor, money, family, friends, country, home, career, rights, health, rest, safety, comforts, luxury, a right eye or leg that causes offense, personal opinion, a debate, or an ideology is in truth a wise trader who has realized that there is no benefit to gaining the whole world and losing the self and the kingdom. He does not sorrow over anything, "He will not be afraid of evil tidings" (Psalm 112:7), because the one who sold all does not sorrow over what was actually sold.

All glory is due to the resurrection of Christ, which we celebrate during these holy days, which upturned all scales and balances. Since death became gain (Philippians 1:21) through the resurrection, life outside the laws of love and sacrifice is absolute loss. The one who gains, loses, and the one who loses, gains, as long as God does not give the Spirit by measure to the poor and lowly in spirit.

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States