25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
I find it extremely interesting how often we gloss over the “prickly” verses of Scripture choosing rather to saturate ourselves only with Its glorious promises - distorting our views of what it means to be a true follower of Jesus. Sometimes verses seem difficult to comprehend and harder still to flesh out yet we are not to pick and choose what we are to follow or believe. Scripture tells us that Its entirety is God-breathed and profitable for us:
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17 (NIV)
"The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others.
Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian." A.W. Tozer
Our verse for today is one such “prickly” verse. Whenever we find a verse or concept repeated in Scripture, it is always done so to red flag us to the importance of it. We find the Truth of this verse repeated at least six other times in God’s Word:
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matt 10:39 (NIV)
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. Matt 16:25 (NIV)
35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Mark 8:35 (NIV)
24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. Luke 9:24 (NIV)
26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26 (NIV)
33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17:33 (NIV)
“We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives.” Charles Spurgeon
In all these verses, Jesus is referring to our priorities. He is referring to our focus. He is to be First. He is to be our constant gaze. We get so caught up in our own lives - our problems, our wills, and our ways. Satan uses these as a great distraction from profitable and eternal kingdom works. We begin to love the world in our silken days - giving more credence to ourselves rather than our Savior yet our faith in Jesus is to be our reality and our love for Him our vehement flame. The love of the world and self taking priority over the love of the Savior is nothing new. It is an easy pattern to fall into. We must never dispense our watchfulness regarding this as it is incredibly easy to fall in this area. John gives us the following admonition regarding this:
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)
Paul gives us the antidote for this wrong way of thinking and it concerns the focus of our hearts and minds. Our thoughts and desires are to be heavenly minded which always affects our earthly good. Indeed, we can be no earthly good in regard to eternal purposes if we are not heavenly minded. Like Jesus, who was always about His Father’s eternal work, His followers are to be likewise. We find the following in Colossians:
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col 3:1-4 (NIV)
Remember Jesus’ Words on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew regarding our lives and our inordinate worries over it:
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matt 6:33-34 (NIV)
“Remember Whose you are and Whom you serve.” Oswald Chambers