Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
(Matthew 16:24-27 ESV)
Jesus had just told his disciples about his upcoming departure - his suffering, death and resurrection. Peter (and apparently the others...) were stuck on the first two and tried to get in the way, but Jesus told them to not get stuck, but to look on to the resurrection. He now takes them, and us, a step beyond that to His return. We don't want to get stuck in this world. There are a lot of traps to trip us up and hold us back. This world is not a worthy investment of our lives. We need to follow Him, In the big scheme of things, it is so little to "give up", when we look to what we will gain. Where are we investing our lives? Let us stretch our minds, and our hearts, to see where our value(s) should really be.
No comments:
Post a Comment