Mark 8:35-36

Passage

Jesus then teaches that whoever would seek to save their life will ultimately lose it; but whoever is willing to sacrifice their life for the sake of the Gospel will find that their life has been saved.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

To make His point fairly clear – although still using abstract terms – Jesus tells the crowd that if they seek to save their life they will lose it.  In other words, Jesus is saying that if we go through life pursuing our own agendas, we will come to the end of life realizing that we’ve lost everything.  The reason we’ll lose everything is because in pursuing our own agendas we aren’t pursuing God.  So as our life expires – and it will for each and every one of us – if we haven’t pursued God then we’ll have nothing left.  Our life will have been spent without having anything spiritual to gain once this life is over.

From this perspective, how sad is the life of a person that is spent pursuing their own agendas?  Why is this such a fleeting goal?  From an eternal perspective, why would anyone pursue the things of this world and the things of this life that are not also the things of God?

Second Thought:

On the flipside, those who are willing to lose their life will find that they have saved it.  The same logic applies here.  If we are willing to lose this life by spending our life not on what we desire but rather on what God desires for us, then as this life expires we will see that God has stored up a treasure for us with Him.  We may have lost our temporal life, but we will have gained a permanent spiritual life in the presence of God.  Literally, this is an exchange that God makes for us.  We trade what we have – our temporary physical life – and through obedience we exchange it for what God has – a permanent spiritual existence.

Have you ever thought of obedience as an exchange with God?  How can seeing life as an exchange help us when we are trying to make decisions about what path to take in life?

Third Thought:

Of course, there is the question of what God desires for us.  Jesus spells it out pretty clearly in these verses.  Jesus says that God desires the things that further the cause of Jesus and the message of the Gospel.  That’s a pretty clear and a fairly narrow focus.  Want to exchange temporary life for permanent life with God?  If so, then stop doing things that don’t further the Kingdom of God and start doing the things that do further the kingdom of God.  It really is not a difficult concept.  It’s just that the application of the concept on a consistent basis in this world is fairly difficult.

What do you do in your life that does not further the kingdom of God?  Why do you do those things?  What could you be doing in your life that does further the kingdom of God?

Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 8:37-9:1