keeping, losing, getting

 Luke 9

23 Then Jesus said to the crowd, 

“If any of you wants to be my follower, 

you must give up your selfish ambition, 

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. 

25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world 

but are yourself lost or destroyed?

Most of us focus on all of verse 23 & the first half of verse 24.

That's the part about giving up everything & following Jesus' guidance.

We don't focus on what we get if we give up everything to let Him lead us throughout our life.

Many translations say if we give up our control of our lives, t's then that we will find real life.

Most of us are scared to do that because we too scared of what Jesus will make us do.

Or we think He will have us be & do something pretty odious or at least very embarassing.

In other words, we don't trust Him.

Even though I've pretty clueless about my life & why it has gone in the direction it has, I still have to trust Jesus as I walk it out.

I've lived too long & seen too much.

I've see too many people keep control of their lives as Christians, & I've seen what has happened in my own life when I'm in control, & I still think the smart money is on letting Jesus take control.