When All is Lost

Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to his followers, “If any of you want to be my follower, you must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you for following me. Any of you who try to save the life you have will lose it. But you who give up your life for me will find true life. It is worth nothing for you to have the whole world if you yourself are lost. You could never pay enough to buy back your life.

Life, it seems to me, is a tug-of-war between good and evil; between doing what you know is right, and doing what pleases you; between the pleasures of this world and the treasures of heaven.

The thing that stops many a person from following Jesus is the plain truth of what it’ll cost them. That’s no surprise because Jesus promised that it’ll cost you. There are clear trade-offs between what’s right and what pleases you. But when you take a closer look at both sides of that ledger, there’s really only one sensible way forward.

Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to his followers, “If any of you want to be my follower, you must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you for following me. Any of you who try to save the life you have will lose it. But you who give up your life for me will find true life. It is worth nothing for you to have the whole world if you yourself are lost. You could never pay enough to buy back your life.

What’s at stake here is life itself – here and now, and for all eternity. What’s the point, asks Jesus, of gaining the whole world only to end up losing your life. Billy Graham once summed it up like this: When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.

If you keep thinking about yourself, in the end you’ll lose it all. Take up your cross and follow Jesus.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.