March 10, 2023

Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25

It is for the sake of Christ that a person is called to lose his life. But how can any decision I make in my life benefit the Owner of everything? An answer is found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints… 1:17-18

There it is: His inheritance. What does the Owner of everything stand to inherit?  He stands to inherit those who choose to live for Him instead of for themselves. The Giver of life desires to “inherit” you and me; and it is only with our full cooperation that He may do so. And for what purpose? That we may each become part of the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. It is His joy to give to you—to lavish!—the spirit of wisdom and revelation of Himself upon the objects of His love: “whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Today we live in a ‘world-gone-mad’ over consumerism. But this consumeristic mentality would be absolutely foreign to the first century believers. The Apostolic Church understood and taught that becoming a follower of Jesus meant a willingness to let go of one’s own interests in favor of the interests of God. True happiness and real joy is found only in living for Christ, that His inheritance may increase.

By contrast, it has been said: Christianity that asks nothing and costs nothing will end up meaning nothing.

He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:15