“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24 CSB)
This verse and those that follow comprise one of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith: Life is discovered by giving it up. If you seek after your own life apart from God, you will lose your life. If you give up your own life to the Lord in order to follow after Him and His will rather than your own, you will find life. This is almost like saying that with slavery comes freedom. Who thinks that makes sense? But that’s what a paradox is: a truth that does not make sense logically but is nevertheless true. Paul, for example, considered himself a slave of Christ, but this same man also wrote of the great freedom that we enjoy in Christ. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free,” is what Paul wrote to the Galatians.
As you consider directions for today and what you hope will happen and what your goals will be, remember that the more you serve the Lord, the more life you will find life.
Guide us, Lord, into all truth, so that we may more fully understand that which is not so easy to understand, and help us make the application of Your truth day by day. Amen
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