Day 066: Direction

"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it."  Mark 8:35

 This sounds like quite an order, but it's for our own sake that Jesus commanded it.

But, to preserve our own life can seem pretty selfish, especially before God.  When we go about on our own, making everything in our life just the way we want it, many times the process leads us on a path away from God.  Our life would have our name on it, but it would fall very far from God.  Directing our lives can isolate us from all those around us, and then we will indeed be gaining our own world while losing our soul.

Losing our life means to let go of it.  We need to let go of our lives so that God can take it and shape it into the best that it can be.  What do Jesus and the Gospel mean?  They mean love.  They mean support.  They mean everything that is good.  So why would we want to keep our life from all of that?

Giving our life over to Jesus is a constant thing, though.  We periodically take it back from God's hands out of fear.  However, in order to make sure that God has complete control over our lives, we need to be in constant communication with God through prayer and reading the bible.  We will only be able to give our lives over for the Gospel's sake if we actually know what the Gospel is.  We direct our lives on the basis that we know our every thought.  If we familiarize ourselves with the Gospel, then we can allow for the Gospel to take over.  It will be a lot of work, just as Jesus pointed out (take up your cross), but Jesus will be there every step of the way, guiding us and helping us.

Take some time this Lent to familiarize yourself with God in a new way.  Find a new devotional, have a conversation with a faith leader or even your friends, or just sit down and read the Gospel of Mark (it's the shortest one).  Also, pray for guidance through your process of learning.

 

Day 019: Direction

"Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together." Acts 19:32

We have memes of this situation floating around the internet, and one of my favorite ones is as such: "Who are we?"
"Spanish Students!"
"¿Cómo te llamas?"
"¡Bien!"

We can gather and speak loudly, but if we lack direction, we are putting ourselves at a risk of falling apart in the times of pressure or challenges.  And, of course, Jesus is all about presenting us with a challenge, whether it be of faith or of how to live.

Paul and some companions go into Ephesus in order to preach, but some people start to get antsy about the fact that the Gospel is about Jesus and not Artemis, whose statues and temple provide a strong source of revenue for the city.  And, yet, when they are faced with the Gospel of love, of miracles, of grace, of forgiveness, they all freak out.  They are going to lose their livelihood.  Then, they go to riot, but they have no idea how to riot.  I mean, is there really a way to riot against the good news of love and forgiveness?

And, since they have no good argument, such that they can't even agree on what they're rioting about, they end up nearing a censure for rioting without a cause.  They remain silent.

The life that Jesus asks us to live is not an easy one, by no means, but we need to be open to all that he is offering.  Rather than kick and scream at him, how about remaining silent and listening?  We can only wander for so long in our own ways before we reach a test.  Let's let Jesus guide our lives.