LOSING OUR LIFE IN THIS WORLD TO SAVE IT WITH GOD 2 Cor. 9:6-10; Ps. 111; John 12:24-26 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). This is how a Christian should live; that is, he should hate his life in this world for the love of God. He who does this will inherit eternal life. St. Lawrence died for his faith, roasted on a gridiron. He lost his life in this world rather than renounce his faith in Christ. He did not love his life in this world but rather sacrificed it for the love of Christ to remain faithful to him. We are to follow his example. We will probably not be martyred as he was for our faith, but even so, as Christians we should live a life of self-denial in this world. Normally we should take care of our health and so protect the life and body that God gave us, but we should not live a life of worldly pleasure. Rather “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24). To grow spiritually and in progressive sanctification we have to lose and hate our life in this world (Mark 8:35; John 12:25). We have to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:25 NKJV). The Christian life is a life of self-denial in this world, not a quest after worldly pleasures, for these pleasures divide our heart from a pure and undivided love for the Lord. This is because “no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). It is in this sense that we are to hate our life in this world and not love it; that is, we are to live for only one master, not for God and also for mammon, namely the unnecessary pleasures of the world that divide our heart. All our delight should be in the Lord. To grow in holiness, this is the way. We are to renounce all else to grow in Christ and in the new life that he gave us. To remain in and grow in Christ is a great treasure, but it is hidden in a field. Jesus teaches us how to obtain it. It is to go and sell all that we have to be able to buy the field containing this great treasure. Thus shall we grow in the salvation that Christ gave us through his death when we first put out faith in him. We must renounce all else if we want to possess this treasure and grow in holiness (Matt. 13:44-46). And how shall we renounce all else for Christ’s sake to remain in and grow in his life and light which he gave us through our faith in him? We shall do so by living a simple and basic life, a life that renounces the unnecessary pleasures of this world, a life of prayer and fasting. We shall do so by hating our life in this world to keep it for eternal life. We shall do so by losing our life in this world to truly find it. “So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). This is the narrow path of life, not the wide road of perdition. This is the way of the few, not of the many. “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:13-14). Let us be among the few who find this narrow way of life by living a simple life in this world for the love of God.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 06:11:57 +0000
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