“Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”
Luke 17:33-34
“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”
Matthew 19:29-30
Several years ago Ted Turner, who turned a bankrupt Atlanta advertising company into a media empire, called Christianity a “religion for losers.” Later on he retracted his comment and apologized for his words. But I have to wonder…wasn’t he actually right?! Christianity is for losers. It’s a religion of losers. To follow Jesus Christ means to lose one’s self to this world. It means losing all your winnings in this world in order to lay up treasures in the next. To be a disciple of Christ means to negate your pride, subtract your fleshly wants, and put behind you your carefully constructed plans. Jesus absolutely delights in reaching out to those who consider themselves the last, the least, the littlest, and the most lost without Him. Christianity is not a religion of winners. It is a faith journey of overcomers who learn to gain by losing.
There is one respect in which Christians do not lose: we do not lose heart! Second Corinthians 4:16 and Hebrews 12:5 are just a few of the many Biblical references which remind us never to lose heart. What we shake off here on earth, we accrue a hundred times more in heaven. In what ways can you “lose yourself” to this world today? Do not lose heart, but humble yourself before God and let go of that possession or relationship, title or position…give it to the Lord, and He’ll turn it into a treasure.
You are my treasure, dear Lord, and I lay my life at Your feet. Keep the tentacles of the world, the flesh, and the devil from entwining around my heart. I desire to lose my life for Your name’s sake!
