“For whoever wants to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
Matt. 16.25
What does it mean for a person
to want to save his or her life? It suggests to me that the individual takes it
upon himself or herself to make their way, to take control of life and do with
it what they choose and decide.
Jesus warns against this. Such action,
He says, will cause the person to lose life. In the extreme, this could mean
that the person would forfeit their very existence. I also see something else,
something that comes to me now as the joy of living. Life is not merely the
force that takes one from birth to death. Life as also the quality we enjoy in
the journey.
Rather than me being in charge,
Jesus invites me to lose my life for Him – and I see this as something more than a
passing, polite invitation! I hear Jesus beckoning, even urging me to live His
way, to follow – with Him – the Father’s plan for my life. As I do this, and I
certainly want to do it, I will experience the richness of living that can only
come from Him.
This has been the way for me
for quite some time now, yet I give myself for it to be even more so. I am not
always fully tuned into God’s way. I seek His forgiveness in this, and I look
for His leading of me, more and more, into the finding of my life in Him.
Lord God,
I know and You know that I am far from perfect in my surrender to You.
Forgive me, please. Set me free, if You will, from the
power and hold of sin. Lead me into those paths and ways that are God-ordained.
Strengthen me daily in You. I know the journey will have challenges, yet with
You I can overcome.
I do love You, and my heart’s desire is to please and delight You. Hear
this, my urgent plea, in Jesus’ name I ask. Amen.
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