He Has Our Back
What does it mean to lose one's life for Christ's sake?
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.” - Mark 8:34-9:1
Jesus wanted his disciples to be committed to the gospel. They had to believe that spreading the good news of salvation was the most important thing they could do with their lives.
For us, that may sound like the job for clergy. It is not something we all need to do, right? But what if we decided to live our lives with a focus on God? What would that be like?
It could mean letting the Holy Spirit guide us every day. Whatever we set out to do, we do believing that God is in control, helping us to succeed, showing us where we should go next whether we understand why or not.
If someone offered to help make everything you set out to do easier and more fruitful, you would probably listen to him, wanting to know how you could make life better.
Well, that is what Jesus is offering.
What we gain in following Jesus is confidence that the work we set out to do in His name will be successful, not because we are doing it, but because it is why He was sent to us.
If we had listened to God from the beginning, if we had acted not for our selves but for all, we would have had a better life than we have now.
The good news is we can change direction at any time. Right now, we can decide to tackle the day with the love of God and one another as our guide.
The Holy Spirit will do the rest, bringing us to opportunities and challenges that make the journey worthwhile for us and those we seek to help.
Once we believe we are on the right path, we can step out and know God has our back.
And He will never let us down.
More to come...