Matthew 16:24-28
"I don't want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul" (TobyMac). I wonder how a soul is lost? I wonder what is the first step to damnation? (Damnation is a strong word, but maybe there are times for strong words.) I wonder if it is in the small things a distraction (a text message from a friend just when the sermon was cutting at your heart), a bitterness cherished (you wanted to forgive once but now it's too late--you're too angry now to even try), a late night on Facebook and no time to pray in the morning or the morning after that or the morning after that.
Christ compares faith to a mustard seed; it is small and grows large. Sometimes it works the other way too. We sow little seeds of small sin or spiritual neglect in our lives and those seeds germinate and sprout and bear terrible thorns, thorns that choke out our walk with God.
"Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it'" (Matthew 16:25). Here is the key. Daily we must die to self (maybe hourly at times). We must die, that death is the most unnatural thing in the world--so unnatural it is supernatural. And praise God for his supernatural power in letting our self-centered self-serving natures die so that Christ may be raised in us! "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
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