Lose your life

Mark 8:34-37, "Then calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?'"

Here's my take on life. I do the things that I know that I do well. I avoid attempting things that I am not good at. I operate in a fairly routine world. I get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, and there's some ministry thrown in there somewhere. I spend a lot of my time living my life in a way that's safe and comfortable. I try to control and plan my life myself. It is such a challenge for me to leave room for God to do really big stuff. Even though I love God and want to live a live of faith, I hang onto my life and "let" God have bits and pieces of it to control.

Here's God's take on life. If I don't give up every single ounce of my own control, He is not totally and completely God in my life. In some form or fashion, I am trying hard to share godship with Him. I get to be god of these areas, and you can be God over there. It is only when I stop trying to be a god of my own destiny and surrender my control totally over to God that I gain life. It is when God takes control that life is abundant. And life is big. And life is an adventure. It is only in losing control of my life, that I find real life. Life with God.

There have been times in my life that were very much characterized by my total and complete surrender to God. But other seasons were characterized by me trying to share godship of my life. It is so easy for me to relapse into being in charge of my own life. And settling for the small because I am afraid to go for the big. I find it easy to underestimate the worth of my soul and overestimate the value of other stuff.