Heres Todays Devotional from The Vine... Lost, Yet Found For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. - Matthew 16:25 It is self-serving to be governed by self-interest -- to be consumed with yourself and avoid sacrifice -- to live to accumulate as much as you can to bring you comfort, pleasure, or power. If this is the motive for life then it is a life wasted! That is the deep meaning of our Jesus words. Self-seeking is self-losing. We have not really learned how to live at all until we have learned to live for Christ. What we keep for ourselves we lose; it is only what we give away that we really keep. Selfishness is not only sin; it is also spiritual death. The way to save ones life, says Jesus, is to lose it. Christ Himself lost His life, poured it out in loving self-sacrifice for the good of others. It seemed a waste, but was it? He found it again in greater glory. Paul lost his life for Christ, renounced everything for His sake, suffered everything, and gave his very life at the last; but did he lose anything by his self-sacrifice? A young girl, beautiful, cultured, honored, with a lovely home and many friends, turned away from ease, refinement, and luxury, and went to teach freed slaves in America. She lived among them, and gave out her rich young life in efforts to help them up and save them. One day she became sick and died. Her friends said: “Oh, what a waste of precious life!” But was it a waste? All who truly follow Christ make this choice between saving and losing their life - that is, between making self-interest and Christ the motive in living. When we follow Christ, we may never be called actually to make great sacrifices; but that we are ready to make them is implied by our agreement of discipleship. This losing of our lives is to save them -- it is sowing a seed in the ground, losing it for a while, to later reap a rich harvest.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 06:47:38 +0000
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