Day 286/365- Mark 8:31; 34-37

"Living=dying"

Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn 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 and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? (Mark 8:31, 34-37 NLT)

Very early on in the life & ministry of Jesus, he tells his disciples that he must suffer, die, & be raised from the dead. He makes it clear that he will suffer & it will be at the hands of the religious leaders but it's always been in the heart of God.

Just a couple of verses later we see another cross in view. Jesus says that not only is he going to a cross but anyone who wants to follow him must also come to a cross.

Anyone means everyone.

Jesus is not looking for some non-crucified followers & some crucified. A prerequisite to following Jesus is going to the cross. Jesus & self cannot occupy the same throne. Either Jesus dies for us & in his death & ours we live, or we die ourselves eternally. Death is a reality of life. Either we face God after death in our own righteousness (none at all) or we face God with the death of Jesus applied to our hearts as our righteousness. Either way, death is certain.

Jesus goes on to specify what he means further. "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it." This seems paradoxical. How can hanging on to our lives be losing them? To put it another way, how can jumping out of an airplane without a parachute be life saving? Jesus says don't trust the chute. Trust me.

In this way Jesus is turning the principles, methods, philosophies, & inclinations of this world on its head. To save our lives we must lose them. And to lose our lives, all we have to do is try to save them. And all of us are trying to save them. We have many saviors in our lives. We think if we just got a little bit of help we could save ourselves (Tim Keller).

Jesus is saying, nothing in this world is worth losing your soul over. Not health, wealth, jobs, relationships, sexual orientation, or any other thing in life we place our identify in besides Jesus. You can hear him pleading with us, "Don't lose your soul!"

The question is, how are we trying to "hold on to our lives?" What is it that we can't lay down? Why can't we lay down our lives like our Savior laid down his? What is shaping our identify besides Jesus?

Let it go. Don't lose your life. Lay it down. It's not worth your soul. Jesus is better. Jesus is enough.

Only in following Jesus to the cross can we really experience life. Lets take up our crosses & follow our life-giving Savior to our death & subsequent new life. Take off the chute. It can't save. But he can.