The Courage to Lose Our Lives and Place Everything in God's Hands

Luke 9:22-27 ²² And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." ²³Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. ²⁵What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? ²⁶If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

As Christians we are called to take up our cross and follow Him. We are told what good is it to gain the whole world if we lose ourselves, and that those who want to save their own lives will lose them. It sounds simple, put your faith in God, put Him at the center of your life and while you may struggle He will be with you, he will take care of you. But letting go and trusting in God is not always as easy as it sounds. How many times do we try to do everything ourselves? If we just work harder we won't get laid off, we'll have job security. If we just stay up late burning the midnight oil worrying, we'll find a way to solve our latest problem and everything will be fine.

We try to fix everything on our own. While we are in the trenches of everyday life it is so easy to focus on what we can do that we forget all about or promise to put our faith in Jesus. Letting go and trusting that God will provide for us and the He will always be there with us through all of our struggles is not easy. It takes lots or prayer and reflection and for me lots of deep breaths to calm myself down, but it is the first step toward denying ourselves and following Him.

Prayer –Lord, give us the courage to lose our lives and place everything in your hands.