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In our new series entitled 'Making the Most Our of Your Life' we learned last week that we need to deal with our area of weakness in order for our life to count for God. We saw this by the example of Moses' life, who took God's plan for granted and then concluded that the most important thing to do in life is to number our days properly, to realize we don't have as much time as we think. As we have been learning how fragile and quick life passes us by on Earth, we gain a better understanding that we must make every moment count for God's glory. One of the greatest teachings about how to spend our lives comes from Jesus Himself. He makes a contrast between finding our lives and losing our lives.

Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 16:24-25...

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

He stated that if we want to find our lives we must lose our lives. Now what does this mean?... To end your life?... To live life as if it is not your own?... To deem your life as nothing? Jesus is really sharing with us that we must give up every right on our lives. This means that we have to give up our agenda in order to find His agenda.

Notice that you must give up in order to receive! Jesus is teaching clearly that the person who desires to keep his life: his agenda, doing things that please his him even though it is against God, his own plans, will actually miss out on life altogether. Conversely, the person who comes to God and "dies", which means to give up their agenda, doing things that please God even though at times it may be difficult, and doing God's plans will actually find out the joy of real living!

It is for this reason that Jesus says that He came to give us abundant life (John 10:10). One of the striking realities that believers can often miss is the reality that the life that the New Testament talks about is not a "something" to gain, but it is actually something that we are given... it is the life of Jesus Himself. When the Word of God tells us that we obtain eternal life when we accept Jesus, it is actually losing our lives, giving up our own desires and agenda, and receiving as a free gift Jesus' life, His righteousness and His desires. This means that eternal life is actually His life. This is what Jesus meant in John 14:6 that He is the...life.

This truth brings us to one of the most important factors of the Christian life that we cannot escape. This is the reality that Jesus died for you so that He can give you His life. There is an awesome exchange that takes place when one accepts Jesus Christ. God wants us to exchange our lives for the life of Christ. This is why the Bible says that Christ is in us. The Bible also says that our lives are hidden (or protected) in Christ with God (Colossians 3:3,4).

The sooner we understand this truth the sooner we will experience His joy, discover His purpose, and sense His peace reigning in our lives. It is not until we realize that this life is one whereby we have died to our own selves and now live for Jesus are we going to have less spiritual conflict and truly understand who we are in Christ.

This is a powerful revelation that sometimes we do not appreciate. For example, the flu has been so prevalent in Bermuda this season that it almost seemed like an epidemic. I realize that it's not until you are sick that you actually realize how much you take your health for granted. Many times we do not appreciate true health until it is compromised to some degree. This is sort of like the child of God. When we accepted Jesus Christ as personal Saviour there was so much that went on in our hearts and lives...which is all good.... that it takes years later to understand it all.

Now let's end with going back to the passage we started with in Matthew 16:24 where Jesus taught that whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for His sake will find it.

Now let's back up one verse before he said this and we will read, "...If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." This is exactly how we make the most out of our lives! This truth is so contrary to modern thinking, even in the church at times, isn't it? Jesus makes it clear that we are called to deny ourselves, take up His cross, and follow Jesus.

We live in a Christian culture that tends to blame a lot of our sins on the Devil; however, it seems that Jesus is emphasizing that one of the difficult endeavours in life is to deny oneself.

The next statement that Jesus tells us to do is foreign to those of us in our present culture, but would have been readily understood in the Roman culture in which it was written. He said that we must take up our cross. Under the Roman government this would mean nothing short of death. This radical introduction to a relationship with Jesus, to find out what true living is all about is being willing to die. In other words, we cannot truly live until we truly die. The cross was a symbol of death in Roman culture, as a lethal needle or electric chair is a symbol of death in our own.

Although we have transformed the cross into attractive jewellery today, in Jesus' time, this was not a symbol of beauty, but death. We must die to ourselves and our wants, and allow Jesus to take over in our lives and live for Him.

This new living is very practical; it teaches you how to respond to tragedy in your life, how to get along with a mean boss, and how to have joy in tough circumstances. Notice that self-denial and being willing to die for Jesus is one of three steps needed to find your life.

Jesus also said that we must follow Him. This is what it means to be a true disciple.

For those reading this that know Jesus as personal Saviour you can either live your life for yourself and miss what true living is all about, or you can live for God and experience the ride of your life!

I have come to discover that this Christian life is exciting and fulfilling. I find that those who think that God did not "come through" for them are the same that have not been willing to give up everything.

It's as if they have concluded that this Christian life did not work for them, but they did not understand the importance of self-denial and the cross. Are you willing to experience real life? Then go for it; after all Jesus gave up His life for you so we can grasp what real living is all about!

Pastor Gary C. Simons serves as the Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship, 82 Church Street, Hamilton, Bermuda.[[In-content Ad]]

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