Life-Saving Tactics || Luke 9:23-24 || Manna for the Mind #42

Welcome to Day 42 of my “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series takes a passage of scripture (typically 1-3 verses) and builds understanding through its context and connecting scripture. This helps us understand what the Bible truly teaches us.

Luke 9:23-24

23           Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

24           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.

Taking up your cross is a phrase used in Christianity a lot. Still, if you’re not familiar with it or familiar with the meanings around it, it won’t mean anything to you. To take up a cross means to carry one’s own cross, like Jesus carried his, to the place of crucifixion. Many people from Galilee were killed this way by the Romans, just as Jesus experienced. Being a Christian means walking through a similar fate. Now, the crucifixion punishment was particular to the Roman culture and the time that Jesus lived in, so we don’t experience that. How, then, can we experience it?

Being a disciple of Jesus means putting aside the selfish desires of your heart (aka “shouldering one’s cross” and following him. How does this work? It requires our recommitment to serve him each day. It’s a simple and demanding task. For the original twelve, it meant literal suffering and death. It may not be like that for us today, but it could. It may not be physical, but it could be mental or spiritual suffering. The ways of the Kingdom are upside down compared to the ways of the world today. You may have to flip the way you view and do things usually to follow God in the way he wants. It’ll be hard because change is hard. You might have to put to death the old ways to make way for the new. We must understand that we belong to God and live to serve his purposes.

If our life is essential, we will do everything we can to protect us. Sometimes, we don’t believe that it is. A rut we could be stuck in can spiral into a deep depression and turn into suicidal ideations. Unfortunately, some people feel so unimportant and unloved that they act on their suicidal ideations and take their own lives or commit severe harm to themselves. There are many, many causes of that, from hormonal imbalances, environmental triggers, abuse, and bullying, among other reasons. Yet, God calls us to love others how we love ourselves. How can we love others if we don’t love ourselves? This is when we need the community of believers to surround them, pray for them, speak life into their situation, and encourage them with the resources and care to continue living the way God has called them to. No life should ever feel unsafe, uncomfortable, and unloved by themselves or others. Jesus calls us to go out into those uncomfortable situations, have those unsafe conversations, and deal with the unhealthy desires of our hearts.

We might risk death, but we won’t fear it. To die for Christ is to live eternally. Nothing material can ever compensate for the loss of eternal life. We are to use our lives here not to please ourselves but to serve God and others.

Matthew 10:39

39           If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.

Clinging to our life can cause us to forfeit the best from Jesus now and eternally. If we live with the mindset that there’s nothing that we know, then we lose out on the gift of eternity. If we believe that there is eternal life without pain, suffering, and tears, then we live our earthly lives as God wants. The more we love this life’s rewards, the more we will discover how empty they really are. There is NOTHING in this world that replaces the concept of not having any grief, pain, and suffering in the world. The best way to enjoy life is to loosen our grasp on it and be free to follow Jesus.

Enjoying God’s best comes from allowing him to deliver us from the things that take our attention away from him. In doing this, we can receive eternal life and immediately experience his grace and mercy.

Luke 17:33

33           If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if your let your life go, you will save it.

Now, Marc, isn’t that the same verse from Matthew? Yes and no. The first half of the verses remains the same: cling to your life, and you lose it. Yet, the second half is different. Matthew tells the believers that you’ll find it if you give up your life for Jesus. Luke tells the nonbelievers that if you release your life to Jesus, you’ll save it. Believers will find their lives in Christ if they release their lives to God and follow His teachings and principles. Nonbelievers will find their lives in Christ if they release their lives to Christ to be saved from the bondage of sin.

The people who live for themselves have these common attitudes:

• They are materialistic. They believe: “I work hard to get the money and possessions I want. Only what I see is real. Unseen things are just ideas or dreams.
• They are individualistic. They believe: “I determine my own standards and destiny. No one can judge me. The wisdom I need comes from within.”
• They are skeptical. They believe: “Everyone has an agenda, so I won’t trust anyone.”

Those with these attitudes may think they are protected and taking care of themselves. Still, they lose out on the true meaning of a living relationship with God through Jesus and the eternal life that follows it. In general, make sure you are more committed to Jesus than you are to yourself.

John 12:25:

25           Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.

We must live in a way for Jesus and not care for our lives by comparison. This isn’t saying that we should die to die or be careless and destructive with the lives God has given us. It means to live being willing to die if we glorify Christ. It’s caring for your body because it’s a temple for the Holy Spirit. It’s taking care of your mind because your thoughts must be like God’s. It centers on living life as Jesus would in our world today. We set aside our goals of getting ahead, finding security, and feeling pleasure to serve God lovingly and freely. Release the control of your life and transfer that control to Jesus, who will bring eternal life and genuine joy to you and replace the security, pleasure, and advantages that you had in worldly things. What are you replacing today?

Father God, thank you for the love and openness you give us so we can become the children you created us to be. Taking up our crosses is not accessible by any stretch. Still, through the Holy Spirit, you allow us to take them up to you boldly and confidently. Help us release the control we gave to those crosses, and help us find and save the life you create for us. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.