Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Day 59 - Losing it All

Day 59
Exodus 31-32, Matthew 16

When you give all that you are to the movement of Christ, you gain so much more than you can ever gain from the world. People came together with their individual gifts to help build the tabernacle. God has equipped each one of us in a way to give back to Him. We can choose where we use our gifts, but the ultimate reward comes when we use it for Christ's mission.

We see how quickly people can turn from God and give up what He has given to us by turning to other things and idols. (Idols being anything from a golden calf, as we read about in Exodus, or the things in our lives that we put before Christ.) We see the wrath of God threaten to pour out on the sinful people, giving their worship to this thing, rather than to the God Who rescued them out of Egypt. Are you placing something else before the God Who redeemed you? He has done so much for us, and yet we can bat an eyelash and cling to the things we think will matter, rather than the One that has and will and does.

This is played out as well in our Matthew reading for the day too, as we read about leaders looking for a miraculous sign from Jesus to prove He is the Messiah. While Jesus could easily do this, He knows that their hearts aren't right as they are approaching Him on their own terms and basing their belief on themselves. Jesus has given us enough reason to have faith in Him. Why do we insist on seeing more? What we put into our hearts is what matter and when we lose what we desire, our desires will be met beyond our imagination when we give them up.

Peter declares Jesus as Messiah and the living God, then refuses to allow Jesus to go in order to save us all. Jesus points out:

 "If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn away from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you 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 soul?" - Matthew 16:24-26

Everyday, we must make a decision to take up our crosses and follow Him. By taking up the cross, we face death daily - death in our hopes, dreams, desires - for the following of Christ's plans in us. When we try to cling to our lives and the things we put before Christ, we will lose what matters most. Losing is gain when it comes to Christ. We can have everything in this world, but in the end it is entirely meaningless in comparison to the eternal rewards that Christ gives us in this life and in the life to come.

No comments:

Post a Comment