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Losing Our Life!!!

Christians are commanded to lose their lives. This does not mean that we seek death, or that we turn away from life itself. Rather, it means that we ought to deliberately release our lives to God and His kingdom. One of the greatest hindrances to us being on mission with God will be our view of what constitutes our "legitimate rights." That is, those things that we feel we have a right to experience and enjoy. It's not difficult to turn over to Christ those things that are not a sacrifice or that we would prefer to do without anyway. But, it is the things that are good and that are dear to us that may stand between us and God's will.

"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 16:25.

Let's look at some examples: It's good to be near our grown children and grandchildren, but God may want us to go to another city or even another continent on mission with Him. It's good to get adequate rest, but we may receive a call of distress in the middle of the night. We may assume that we have a right to certain material things, but God may ask us to release all of our possessions to Him and His purposes.

You know, Jesus modeled perfectly this attitude toward life. He had a legitimate right to enjoy the comforts of heaven. Yet, He did not look at it as a right He should hold on to, nor did He see leaving all that was His as a sacrifice too costly to make. As a result, God highly exalted Him and brought salvation to a broken world.

Has the world convinced us that there are certain rights that we must protect? Are we trying to save our lives? Have we noticed that in so doing, we are actually losing the life God wants us to have? If we have answered yes to any of these questions, we are guilty of not releasing our lives to Christ. We need to trust in God, that He desires to give us a new life and create in us a new heart, if only we would lose our life to Him.

May God Richly Bless You Today!! H Trent!

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