losing & gaining

 Mark 8:34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, Jesus said,

     "If any of you wants to be my follower,

         you must put aside your selfish ambition,

         take up your cross,

         and follow me.


35 If you try to keep your life for yourself,

        you will lose it.

But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News,

        you will find true life.



36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

37 Is anything worth more than your soul?



38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days,

         the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."



Yesterday, I caught the end of the Bridgestone Invitational where Tiger Woods won his 79th major golf tourney. Verse 36 came to my mind as I was watching him finish the 18th hole - "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?"

I thought the same thing these last few days as I watched all the drama w/ A Rod.

And then I thought about verse 34 - "...you must put aside your selfish ambition..." - and wondered how much of us (me included) continue to place our "selfish ambitions" ahead of anything or anyone else in our lives.

Jesus says more than once in the gospels that is we cling to our lives, if we try to hold on to anything w/ a tight grip, we will lose it.

That goes against ALL the current thinking in the world - it says, "hold on to what's mine, no matter what" (hence the present political & economic climate in which we now live, both here & abroad).

Jesus tells us over & over again in the gospels to let go of our lives - or just let go of everything - because then, & only then, is God able to implement His dreams for each of us into our lives, which ends up being in many ways the very things we were holding onto so tightly.

So?

Let's let go of our lives. Why? I've never seen anyone keep anything that they held on to with a possessive grip - never.

If we let go, life gets simpler, & all that God brings into our lives is more in line with who we are & what we're about.

"But what about ________?!" (you fill in the blank)

Or, "I deserve this."

Or,"I've worked for this all my life."

Or, "If I can't have this, I'll just die!" (If you feel that way, there's a good chance you probably already have.)


Now, I'll tell ya, I've tried to implement this letting go stuff for especially the last 5-10 yrs. It's been a WILD ride. Some pretty enormous things have occurred - and there's been LARGE chunks of time during which I'm clueless as to what's going on. (been in one of those seasons the last few years.)

All I know is that life is much simpler if we let go of our self-centered hopes & wishes & truly adopt a servant role, saying, whatever, whoever, wherever, whenever, however to God.

Now,He's gonna mess with you if you do. But which, on the face of it, makes better sense:

     to hold on to what WE think is best for us (finite beings we are w/limited intelligence & insight)

     or to yield to the will & dreams of the all knowing, all powerful, all loving God of the universes who operates outside of time & sees the who picture of eternity in a glance?