“If you try to hang on to your life, your will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Matthew 16:25-26 NLT)
One day our body will stop living, but, if we belong to Jesus, that will simply be the day we kiss life’s struggles goodbye. Eternal life is never in question. Everyone will live forever, it’s only a matter of where. The soul is the center of life, the part of us that will never die. It’s the seat of our feelings, desires, affections, and aversions. How can anyone place a value on that?
Yet, the implication of what Jesus is saying is that all the world and everything in it isn’t worth as much as our soul. Does that ring any bells? Remember in Luke 4 when Jesus was being tempted? Satan first tempted Jesus with bread, because He was starving, but remember what his second approach was? Luke 4:5-7 says: “Then the devil took Him up and revealed to Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ‘I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,’ the devil said, ‘because they are mine to give to anyone I please. ‘I will give it all to You if You will worship me.’”
Do you realize that’s the same temptation Satan puts before us every day? And the reason we’re so inclined to take the devil up on his offer is because it sounds so satisfying to our soul. Why? Because we love ourselves supremely. We want what makes us feel good, look good, give everyone the best impression of us, but mostly, we want people to envy us and want what we have.
That’s everything the world offers and the only thing we have to do is worship the one who controls it. That’s why Jesus calls us to stop trying to hang on to our life. We must choose! We can’t hold onto Jesus with one hand and the devil with the other. And that’s the choice we make every day. Lysa Terkeurst wrote? “Sometimes to get your life back, you have to face the death of what you thought your life would look like.”
Every day Satan is pulling us towards the glitter and glory of a life of sin. It’s what our human nature longs for, and the only way to have the strength and courage to say no to ourselves is to learn to love Jesus and long for His presence more than anything else. Do you know why that works? Because there’s nothing this world can ever offer that feels better and is more satisfying to our soul than God’s presence.
In a recent Turning Point devotion David Jeremiah wrote:“Meister Eckhart was a medieval German preacher whose principal subject was the presence of God. He said: ‘I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God.’”
The longer I walk with Jesus the more I long for His presence. My soul shouts with Paul: “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.” Why? Because my soul will finally be at rest in the eternal presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
If you want you life back, you have to give it to Jesus and trust Him to do what only He can do in, for, and on your behalf. You have to bid farewell to the world and everything it offers, because nothing it offers compares with knowing, loving, serving, and worshipping Jesus with everything we are and everything we ever hope to be.
He IS our life! He IS our health! He IS our source of everything we need to be everything He desires us to be. There is nothing that compares with walking closely with Him, knowing that despite anything the devil can through our way “overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”
Let your life go. Place it in God’s capable and holy hands. You will literally NEVER regret it!
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 