How To Lose Your Life. . .Only to Find It -
Matthew 16:24-28, CEV - Then Jesus said to his
disciples: If any of you want to be my
followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and
follow me. If you want to save your
life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find
it. What will you gain, if you own the
whole world but destroy yourself? What would you give to get back your soul?
The Son of Man will soon come in the glory of his Father
and with his angels to reward all people for what they have done. I promise you
that some of those standing here will not die before they see the Son of Man
coming with his kingdom.
More tough teaching from Jesus
today, but we need to remember that it is tough love. Jesus is telling His disciples these things
because He truly wants what is best for them.
Jesus wants what is best for us. Jesus wants what is best for you. But what is best for you and me is not living
for ourselves, despite what we might think.
Living for ourselves is actually a
recipe for destruction. We might find
some temporary satisfaction in serving ourselves, but when it becomes a way of
life, we find that we will never be able to “get” enough to feel like we have “the
life.” Ironically, while we were doing
all that striving, “the life” in us ebbs away.
This is because we were created for relationships. Relationships, like bank accounts, require at
least as many “deposits” as “withdrawals” to keep them open. The
self-serving life is all about “withdrawals” and will eventually bankrupt us
relationally. The relationally bankrupt
soul is lost. “If you want to save
your life, you will destroy it.”
It's counterintuitive, but pouring
your life into others’ and God’s interests achieves the opposite result of the life
of self-service. Paul describes how
Jesus did this Himself:
Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain equal with God. Instead he gave up everything and became a
slave, when he became like one of us. Christ
was humble. He obeyed God and even died on
a cross. Then God gave Christ the highest place and honored his name above all
others. So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on
earth, and under the earth. And to the
glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” (Philippians 2:6-11, CEV)
Jesus gave up not only his divine privilege, but after doing
so, he expended His human life serving others eventually being killed by the
ones he came to serve. There is
literally nothing self-serving about Jesus, yet look what he gained: the highest place of honor, the name above
all others, the worshipful adoration of billions, and the position of “Lord.”
This
doesn’t mean that we neglect ourselves.
Jesus took care of Himself. But
He took care of Himself SO THAT He could then pour out life toward serving
others. This is the life that is truly
life, a life that can never be lost. It
is the life Jesus wants for you and me.
We “find” our life in serving the interests of others. I can describe this for a hundred pages, but
in order to truly grasp this paradoxical truth, you have to experience it. I’m sure some you reading this already know
what I’m talking about because you’ve found life in giving it away. But it your like me, it’s a truth that’s easy
to forget. Falling back into the life of
serving numero uno is so easy. If this
is you, today’s meditation is just a soft reminder of what you already
knew.
But it’s
possible that some reading this haven’t fully experienced the crazy truth of giving
away your life to find it. To them, I
simply offer an experiment. Try shifting
the focus of your life to others for a season – you pick the amount of time. I say season because it needs to be longer
than a day or week. This kind of
transformation takes some time to begin to notice. So I recommend
a month or longer. For that time, do
what is necessary to take care of yourself for the purpose of selflessly
serving others and God. As you do, try
to notice any changes in your inner life.
Every so often, ask yourself these questions:
Questions: What are
you losing? What in your life is
expanding? What else seems to be
changing?
Prayer: Lord, teach me the way of spending my life in such a
way that I find life that is truly life.
Give me the strength to follow your example Jesus. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for the people you are intending to serve today.
Song: Give My Life Away
- Big Daddy Weave
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