For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Mark 8:35
Through our simple minds, we already know that gaining is better than losing. What Jesus showed us is little more complex than that. He was telling us that if we try to gain, we will lose, but if we try to lose, we will gain. So in summary, we need to lose in order to gain something greater. Sounds familiar? Everyday, we make purchases. We pay our money to buy products or services. We know we make the purchase because we think it’s worth our money. So you give up the money to benefit something greater. It’s the same with God except it’s not money this time but our selves. We give up our lives, and He will provide something MUCH greater. Hmm Our lives? Too much to give up? If you think about it, He owns that too! You are NOT the owner. He just simply wants you to let it go. That just means you are just admitting to God and believing that He is the owner of your life. It’s funny…because whether you admit and believe or not, He already is.
John Stott gave us three ways people try to gain in this world. Wealth, Power, and Fame. Some might say, ‘one comes after another’.
We often hear people say “Money is evil”. It’s quite interesting because samonim and I were talking about this very subject on Sunday. I never believed that the money was evil. Money does not have mind of its own. In fact, it’s our hearts that are wicked and evil that makes us use the money in wicked ways. Money is just a tool that God gave us to use. If you think about it, they are just measurements of our wealth. Even if we didn’t have paper money or metallic coins, as long as we have some sort of measurements, it’d be okay. If you think in that sense, how worthless is it? Yet, the world lives and dies for this. Just simply to better its measurements. For what? They mean nothing in heaven because God uses different measurements. But it’s not like He’s using some sort of secretive measurements. He tells you exactly what it is. Then, shouldn’t we all live and die for this since this is for eternity?
2 comments:
This is one of many cryptic statements Jesus made, and goes to the heart of his gospel message. What really convicted me about this statement and what I understand about it is this: either a person will live for himself (to save his life) or he will live for something else or someone else (loses his life). I think this either/or dilemma is something we don't like to accept, but so much of what Jesus taught is in the form of an either/or.
The Christian message of the gospel is an either/or message: either we live for ourselves or we live for Jesus Christ and his gospel. And that puts everyone in a dilemma.
You are either right now living for yourself or you are living for Jesus Christ and his gospel. Which one is it? We are either working or studying for ourselves, or we are working or studying for Jesus Christ and his gospel? Which one is it?
Our eternal destiny lies on how we answer this question....
Posted by Pastor James
thanks for your blog, jeetae. in view of all our recent conversations, it was insightful and very well stated.
you are so right to say it is all a manner of ownership. we hold on so desperately to those things which were never ours to begin with, even our very lives.
the more completely we grasp this, the more rightly we will live. that is why our view of money and possessions is such a profoundly accurate measure of our spiritual health.
direct proportion is the term for it, i think.
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