The Lord said to me…”I will test my people with a Plumbline,
Amos 7:8 (TLB)
Loving Your Life Means WHAT?
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| The Bible Says... |
Jesus had some very important
words for his followers regarding the above question. John 12:25 (NKJV)
He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life. (1) the man who loves his life will
forfeit his life. Finding, keeping, seeking, saving, sparing, loving all are
equal to LOSING. Consider Jesus’ comment in Mark; Mark
8:34-36 (NKJV) 34 ..."Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's
will save it. 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and
loses his own soul?"
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Luke 17:33 (NKJV)
Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will
preserve it.
The more you love life the more
tedious it becomes. The more you care for it and keep it, the more you lose it.
(2) Loving your life means to be controlled by it. Loving this world does not
produce any lasting satisfaction. Apparently, Jesus had this in mind when He
shared with His disciples “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole
world, and loses his own soul?" This is a provocative disclosure.
Consider Judas Iscariot, one of
his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, "Why wasn't
this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought
three hundred silver pieces." He said this not because he cared two cents
about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common
funds, but also embezzled them. His love for the world (money & power) was
greater than his love for Jesus the sinless Son of God. (See John 12:6)
The Rich Young Ruler: A man came
running up, greeted him (Jesus) with great reverence, and asked, “what must I
do to get eternal life?" Jesus said, You know the commandments: Don't
murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your
father and mother." He said, "Teacher, I have from my youth kept them
all!" Jesus looked him in the eye and loved him! "There's one thing
left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will
then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me." The man's face clouded over.
This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy
heart. He was holding on tight to many things, and not about to let go. (Check
out Mark 10:17-23)
Giving Ground to the Flesh: When
people give into their fleshly desires they fall under the control of the law
of sin according to God’s Word. Romans 7:21-25 (TLB) 21 It seems to be a fact of life
that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love
to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; 23 but there is
something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind
and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In
my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still
enslaved to sin. 24 So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but
the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible
predicament I’m in! Who will free me from myslavery
to this deadly lower nature? 25 Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our
Lord. He has set me free.
Paul seems to have found an
answer to this troubling dilemma. Galatians 5:16-17
(TLB) 16 I advise you to obey only the Holy
Spirit’s instructions. He will tell you
where to go and what to do, and then you won’t always be doing the wrong things
your evil nature wants you to. 17 For we naturally love to do
evil things that are just the opposite from
the things that the Holy Spirit tells us to do; and the good things we want to
do when the Spirit has his way with us are just the opposite of our natural
desires. These two forces within us are constantly
fighting each other to win control over us, and
our wishes are never free from their pressures.
Don’t be misled; remember you
can’t ignore God and get away with it: a man will always reap just the kind of
crop he sows! If he sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting
seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death;
but if
he plants the good things of the Spirit, he will reap the everlasting
life that the Holy Spirit gives him. And let us not get tired of doing what is
right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get
discouraged and give up. (See Galatians 6:7-9).
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