Love It, Lose It, Live It

Living, really living, is all about reciprocity.

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John 12:25 – He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

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When King David prepared to make a sacrifice to the Lord, he would not use for a sacrifice that which was given to him.  David required of himself that any sacrifice he made to the Lord would be something of true value to himself; something for which he paid.  Everyone who lives on this earth has in some way worked to live.  A baby cries, will fight sleep, will push back against sickness and disease.  That’s fighting for life.  A thug in the street steals, injures others, and even kills.  He has been deceived into thinking that is the only way to get what he needs and wants.  That’s fighting for life.  Almost any time a person feels threatened, or believes their belief system is being threatened, they will resist, verbally, and even physically.  To such a person, that’s fighting for life.  Each of these examples represents someone’s love for their own life at some level, and their willingness to fight for it.  They simply have not realized there is a better way, so they fight to hold on to it because they LOVE IT.

Regardless of the level of life I lead, if by letting that level of life go, I have offered to me a much better, much higher, much safer, much more blessed level of life, I will let it go.  If I recognize that by letting go of what I presently love with my natural love, I can receive and embrace something far better, I will let it go.  Or to state it somewhat differently, I will LOSE IT.

Ah, but then comes the real reward cited in our Text for Today.  My natural life may seem to be great, but there is NOTHING that can begin to compare to the life our Lord offers.  This natural life will on day be terminated; it will come to an end.  But the life our Lord offers is endless and everlasting; it is eternal.  But eternal life alone is not enough.  Even those who reject Christ will live eternally, but the estate in which they live is certainly not one to be desired.  But the life one has in Christ is certainly TO BE DESIRED.   Not only is it life everlasting, but it is life loaded with blessings.  And if we will open our hearts and minds to receive them, we can live eternal life, now in this world and in the world to come, blessed, healed and healthy, provisioned and prosperous, safe and secure, walking in light and not darkness.  And this life is not only one worth the fight to have and keep, if we fight our fight by the Lord’s pattern, we will never be defeated, for this is the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith. 

Manna for Today – John 12:20-26; Luke 6:38; Matthew 10:29-30; Romans 10:6-17; 1 John 5:4

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