24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save their lifef will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Matthew 16:24-26)
Thoughts: To believe means to make God your Lord and your God. If the things of this world are our god, then we will have great difficulty with what Jesus is saying. But if we want to be free from the worries of this world, then we must be willing to give the world up. Perhaps we feel that this is a lot to ask. Such thinking/feeling is already assuming that our lives our our own to give as we want or please. Once we recognize that we are not our own, we can hold onto this life gingerly- giving it up for the One who gave His life for us.
This passage combines much of the teachings of Jesus- die to self and live for God. Quit trying to save this life- your stuff, your reputation, your being fashionable and popular- they will all fade. I am on a beautiful place called, "Harbor Island" in South Carolina. But a block away are eight million dollar+ beach homes that are uninhabitable because the beach has eroded and Hurricane Matthew destroyed their foundations. Some of these homes went from dream homes to nightmare homes. sandbags and seawalls did not help. No amount of walls or health care solutions we have could prevent the ultimate health care solution (heaven) from happening. How much fame, popularity, money, cars, stuff would it take for you to lose your soul forever? Many have lost it. Now the burden of debts while they pursued the dream are dragging them (and perhaps our country) down. There is more student loan debt now than consumer debt Let us be wiling to lose our lives,
Prayer: Lord, give me grace to lose myself for your love. Let me stop blinding myself with the illusion that my stuff goes on forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment