24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
What is “our life”? Life is more than the power to continue breathing. When a man’s career is destroyed, he will say, “My life is ruined!”. When a man finds out from the doctor that he has an incurable crippling illness, he says, “My life is over!”. When we see someone who is trapped in miserable circumstances, we say, “That’s no life!”. When we are confronted by someone who is petty or self destructive, we say, “Get a life”.
The life that we must hate and lose in order to find our life, and to preserve our life, and to keep our life for eternity, is our life in this world. Our life in this world is all that we can gain and keep by obeying men rather than God, and by compromising the confession and practice of our faith. The Bible says, The whole world lieth in wickedness (1 John 5:19).
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1 John 2:15-17)
There is something frightfully wrong with this world, and no one can deny it; therefore, it is open revolt against God and His Holiness to seek security from the world, acceptance by the world, or to love your place in it.
Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4)
Jesus doesn’t say “Hate your life”, as if we should resent the fact that we exist at all. He also said I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
Jesus says that if we wish to preserve your life, we must lose it for His sake first. Even if we say to ourselves and to others that we are “willing” to lose our life for Christ’s sake, but in the choices we make, and in the actions we take, we are always compromising and contradicting our faith in order to save our life, we will end up losing it anyway. This is a clear cut warning against self deception. We may claim a willingness to lose our life for Christs’s sake, and the gospel’s, while everything we do is really an attempt to save it.
If, by the choices you make and the actions you take, you are always losing your life in this world for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s, you shall find that abundant life Jesus promised, and you shall keep it unto life eternal. If you love your life in THIS world, you will never find that abundant life, and, eventually, you shall lose your life forever.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10:37-39)
Being a Believer isn’t just a state of mind, it’s a way of life, The Way to Life. Christ’s true people are to “take up their cross” by living their lives according to what Jesus Christ taught.
