The Ledger of Life: What Are You Really Counting On?

If someone asked you right now whether you think you'll go to heaven when you die, what would you say? If you're like most people, you might answer with something like, "Well, I'm a pretty good person. I try my best. I've always believed in God."

But here's a sobering truth: many people believe they'll enter heaven based on who they are or what they've done. This isn't new thinking—it's been around for thousands of years. And it's a dangerous miscalculation that can cost us everything.

The Accounting Error of a Lifetime

The apostle Paul spent decades accumulating what he thought were spiritual assets—an impressive religious resume that would surely earn him favor with God. But when he encountered Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he realized he had made a catastrophic accounting error.

In Philippians 3:4-8, Paul uses financial language to describe his spiritual awakening. He speaks of "gain" (profit), "loss" (deficit), and being "counted" (reckoning). He's essentially opening the ledger of his life and inviting us to do the same with ours.

This matters because true joy isn't found in what we achieve for God, but in what we receive from God through Jesus Christ. Before meeting Jesus, Paul's joy was tied to his performance, his pedigree, and his religious success—things that constantly demanded more but never fully satisfied. But once Christ became his greatest treasure, his joy became anchored in a secure, unchanging relationship rather than fragile accomplishments.

That's why Paul could write a letter overflowing with joy while chained in a Roman prison. When Christ becomes our greatest gain, circumstances lose their power to steal our joy.

The Resume That Wasn't Enough

Paul lists seven credentials in Philippians 3:5-6—everything a religious person of his day would trust in. These fall into two categories: inherited advantages and earned achievements.

His inherited advantages included:

Circumcised on the eighth day (the covenant sign performed at infancy)
Of the stock of Israel (born a Jew, not a convert)
Of the tribe of Benjamin (a noble lineage that included Israel's first king)
A Hebrew of the Hebrews (raised in Hebrew tradition, not Greek culture)
His earned achievements included:

A Pharisee (part of an elite religious sect of only 6,000 members)
Zealous in persecuting the church (a passionate defender of Judaism)
Blameless according to the law (keeping both written and oral traditions)
If anyone could claim to please God through rule-keeping and religious performance, it was Paul. His resume was impeccable. He studied under Gamaliel, one of the most famous scholars in Jewish history. He memorized vast portions of Scripture. He was meticulous in his devotion.

Yet all of it was worthless for salvation.

The Dangerous Trap of Religion

Here's what makes religion so dangerous: it convinces you that you're fine when you're not. As C.S. Lewis observed, "The deadliest trap of all is the religious one. Because they have enough morality to keep them out of trouble, but not enough righteousness to get them into heaven."

Religion is man's work attempting to reach God. Christianity is God's work to reach man through what Jesus accomplished on the cross. That's a crucial distinction.

Paul had a "righteousness by rule-keeping"—and how many people do you know who operate the same way? "I do my best. I try really hard. I work at doing all the right things. I'm a religious person." But this kind of righteousness is the wrong kind. That math doesn't add up.

The Encounter That Changed Everything

Then came the "but" moment—that pivotal word in verse 7 that represents complete reversal, conversion, and repentance.

On the road to Damascus, Paul—then known as Saul—was traveling to imprison believers when suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.

"I am Jesus whom you are persecuting."

In that moment, everything changed. The persecutor became the preacher. The religious man became a righteous man. The self-confident became the saved.

Paul's response reveals the heart of true conversion: "Lord, what do you want me to do?" He surrendered. He submitted. He acknowledged Jesus as Lord and spent the rest of his life doing what Jesus wanted him to do.

Moving Everything to the Loss Column

After encountering Christ, Paul looked at his impressive spiritual resume and made a shocking declaration: "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" (Philippians 3:7-8).

He took everything from the profit column and moved it to the loss column. Not because those things were evil in themselves, but because compared to the greatness of knowing Christ, they were nothing. In fact, Paul uses a very strong Greek word translated as "rubbish"—it literally means animal excrement, the stuff you sweep out of stalls because it stinks.

A good thing can become a bad thing if it keeps you from the best thing. All those wonderful aspects of Paul's background actually kept him from a genuine relationship with God.

The Pearl of Great Price

Jesus told two parables that perfectly illustrate this transaction. In Matthew 13:44-46, he describes the kingdom of heaven as a treasure hidden in a field and as a pearl of great price. In both stories, someone discovers something so valuable that they willingly sell everything they own to possess it.

That's what salvation looks like—liquidating all that we are and all that we have to gain so much more in Christ. Nothing is stolen. Nothing is forced. Everything is willingly exchanged.

Salvation isn't Jesus being added to your life. Salvation is Jesus replacing the very foundation of your life.

The Ledger Question

So here's the question Paul leaves us with: What are you counting on?

Everyone is trusting in something. Maybe it's your background, your effort, your morality, or your sincerity. But none of those things can bring you into a right relationship with God or give you lasting joy in life.

Thirty years after his conversion, sitting in a Roman prison, Paul reevaluated his life and said, "I still count it all as loss. I made this choice three decades ago, and I'm still making the same choice today."

Why? Because he discovered that when everything else was moved into the loss column, Christ alone remained—and he was more than enough.

As Welsh poet and theologian John Dyer wrote: "A man may go to heaven without health. A man may go to heaven without riches, without honors, without learning, and without friends, but he can never go to heaven without Christ."

Your Turn to Count

Right now, take an honest look at the ledger of your life. What are you really counting on to be right with God? If Jesus isn't the only thing in your profit column, today can be the day you make the exchange that leads to true joy.

Salvation begins with repentance—turning away from living life your way and turning toward God, asking what he wants. It continues with confession—acknowledging that Jesus is Lord, that he died for your sins and rose from the dead, and committing your life to him.

When you have a Lord, you do what they ask. You submit to them. Like Paul on that Damascus road, you ask, "Lord, what do you want me to do?"

And when you make that exchange—trading all your religious achievements, good works, and self-righteousness for the righteousness of Christ—you discover the one asset that outvalues everything else.

You discover Jesus. And he is more than enough.