Losing in Order to Save

 Guest Blog by Gary Riedel

S - SCRIPTURE: Luke 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it.

O - OBSERVATION: At first glance this would seem like a very controversial verse, but one has to consider that these are the words of Jesus as He is speaking to His disciples. Immediately preceding this verse is verse 23 which says; “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” It is not an easy task to follow Jesus and give up everything that you have been doing as the disciples did, hence the reference to taking up their cross daily. They could never go back to doing their own thing, but only the things of Jesus.
Therefore we must lose our own life, our old way of doing things in order to be saved. Romans 6:4 speaks of how baptism works in us to help us live a new life.

A - APPLICATION: Following Jesus is just as difficult today as it was at the time Jesus spoke these words. Laying down our old habits, our old ways of doing things for ourselves, saying no to all of the electronic distractions, is indeed difficult, but if we want to allow Jesus to save us, we need to put Him first! We need to lose our ways so the space can be filled with His ways. The first Commandment is; “Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me!” If we put our desires ahead of Jesus, we are not losing our life in order that it be saved. To lose our lives, brothers and 
sisters is a daily discipline, which requires the help of Jesus.

P - PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help us Lord to lose our old selfish lives in order to find the new life in You. Help us to lose in order that we might be saved by faith in Jesus! In Jesus Name, Amen