Learning How to Lose!
For whoever wants to save their life, they will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Matthew 16:25.
Lord, I will try to learn the lesson. You have been teaching me all my Christian life-how to lose. The Christian life is the life of great losses. The natural man always wants to come in first; the true disciple of Jesus learns how to come in last.
Look how Jesus lost. He lost the confidence of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:3). He lost many disciples (John 6:66); and He gave up His dignity, respect, and clothing (Matthew 27:29,35); and most important He gave up his life. Look how Paul lost. “For Christ’s sake I have lost everything (Philippians 3:8). That ‘everything’ included his life.
I will never amount to anything for Christ until I attend my own funeral. A disciple is like a house in a cyclone; every part gets blown away bit by bit until there is nothing left but the foundation. Then God builds a new structure. The trouble with me-and with most Christians-is that I want to live; I dislike dying. Paul said something profound about that: “Death worketh in us” (2 Corinthians 4:12). Lord, there have been many times when death did not work in me at all.
This is difficult to understand, Lord. I thought at first that the Christian life was full of joy, vitality, victory, and an eternity of heavenly blessings. That is the way You treated me at first. Then You began stripping away my selfish life. What a list! Friends, ambitions, carnal desires, promotions, and even family. My life seemed at times without a plot. And I thought that God was angry with me. However, in time I realized that which You were taking away is to build a strong foundation in You. I am thankful for Him through whom all the promises of God are “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20). When I deliberately say no to my life for His sake, He responds by making it a victorious yes.