"Whoever will save his life shall lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it - Matthew 16: 25
It is significant that Christ should speak of the giving of one's life to Him as a losing of one's life. Christ never blinded Himself to the to the values set upon things by this world. He never concealed from His followers the cost of following Him.
In common understanding, life consists of the ambitions, achievements, pleasures, ways, and the rewards of the world; and to give one's life to Christ is to lose it.
It is also significant that in the same breath Jesus should speak of saving and finding one's life. To give one's life to Him, He says, is to save and find it. That is because life consists of more than the ambitions, achievements, ways, and the rewards of the world. It is fraught, abounding, pregnant with spiritual interest
That is to say there is a quality of life which Jesus declares, alone deserves to be termed real life, which can be found only in Himself and the giving of one's life to Him. But to do so , to save and find life in that sense is to lose it judged by the worlds standard.
You cannot keep your life, you cannot save your life in the ordinary sense, if you give it to Jesus. That is the essential effect of the Christian commitment.
The strange and tragic fact is that so many of Jesus professed followers say, in effect, that they can have life while still withholding something of themselves from Jesus.....Not so Jesus says. "Whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find life"
It is significant that Christ should speak of the giving of one's life to Him as a losing of one's life. Christ never blinded Himself to the to the values set upon things by this world. He never concealed from His followers the cost of following Him.
In common understanding, life consists of the ambitions, achievements, pleasures, ways, and the rewards of the world; and to give one's life to Christ is to lose it.
It is also significant that in the same breath Jesus should speak of saving and finding one's life. To give one's life to Him, He says, is to save and find it. That is because life consists of more than the ambitions, achievements, ways, and the rewards of the world. It is fraught, abounding, pregnant with spiritual interest
That is to say there is a quality of life which Jesus declares, alone deserves to be termed real life, which can be found only in Himself and the giving of one's life to Him. But to do so , to save and find life in that sense is to lose it judged by the worlds standard.
You cannot keep your life, you cannot save your life in the ordinary sense, if you give it to Jesus. That is the essential effect of the Christian commitment.
The strange and tragic fact is that so many of Jesus professed followers say, in effect, that they can have life while still withholding something of themselves from Jesus.....Not so Jesus says. "Whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find life"
