Day 35 (6/20/10)

If you try to hang on to your life you'll lose it, but if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ~Matthew 16:25 (New Living Translation)

On the radio they have this thing called "word on the way" which Is basically just a daily bible verse read from a popular artist. Anyways this happened to be one of them.

The verse sounds almost like a riddle, and it is something we could pass easily without getting the significance of what is being said. When Jesus said if we try to save our lives, we will lose our lives, what he was saying was, if we insist on keeping control of our lives, we will absolutely destroy our lives.

The context around the verse is even more humbling.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.” ~Matthew 16:24-28

In essence, Jesus was giving up his life that we might have life, and that He might return to the Father to really reclaim his life as the Son of God. He was giving up his life and telling his disciples they must follow him in dying as well.

We all want to preserve our lives, it is a natural human tendency. Usually though, we also take it further than that, and want to run our lives the way we want to. We want to be our own gods, the controller of our own destinies.

Remember in the Garden of Eden, the serpent told Eve “you will be like God”, Since then mankind has tried to be his own god. Jesus is saying, if we continue to live like that, in rebellion, instead of preserving what we are holding onto (our life) we will destroy it.

Jesus calls us though, to something much more radical.

Just as he was headed for the cross to be crucified, he also calls us to be crucified. Not with wood and nails, but in our spirits by faith as we identify with his crucifixion and resurrection.

He says to us, if we try to hold on to our lives, any of the things we hold on to that give us a sense of existence or security, we will end up losing not only what we thought was good, but our lives as well.

So really, we must die to live. Let go of what we once held so closely to us (you know, the things that used to matter...) for something far greater. As Galations 2:20
says.......

My old self has been crucified with Christ.It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me ~Galations 2:20 (New Living Translation)
~Stacy Partin