Lose the Life

09.26.11

Luke 9.24  24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. NIV

One of the things I ask my prospects is, What is the biggest thing affecting your business today? In other words, if it (whatever) was removed, what impact would that have on your business? Most people name something because they know what is affecting them and what will make the difference between where they are and where they want to be. As Christians, we should be asking the same question.

Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” It was His way of saying, lose the life. Trying to save one’s life is like trying to save peanut shells. Trying to save one’s life is clinging to all of those things that get in the way of God bringing out the finest things in us (that He’s placed within us). Clinging to one’s life is the very real act of hanging onto every objection to Christ and salvation. Really Paul? Really.

A mentor is good at teaching us what to bring along in life or on the job. Every now and then a mentor will say, “Lose the … (attitude, perspective, nervousness). They know that these things hold us back. Jesus was saying, “Lose the life; it’s holding you back.” And in Kingdom thinking, it’s also holding us out.

Losing the life is risky because it is losing control. It is becoming vulnerable to the point of being very uncomfortable. But discomfort isn’t always bad – more often than not it causes us to do something about it. The higher the level of discomfort, the more we’re motivated to relieve it. Jesus is telling us to lose the life no matter how it feels. Jesus is telling us to trust God because ultimately there is great reward when we do (Cf. Hebrews 11.6).

Losing one’s life is counter-intuitive, strange, and discomforting but it brings with it a way that God can and will use us that without the losing we’ll never get. The choice is ours: do we throw all caution to the wind and trust God? What will people say when we do? And do we care what they say? Once, Peter said to Jesus after Jesus told them He was going to be mistreated by the Jewish leadership, Never Lord! This shall never happen to You! Jesus rebuked him – Peter was trying to hang onto life.

Today, the choice is ours. Today the great wrestling match begins all over again. Jesus says to us, Lose the life! Will we do it?