Giving it up
by Pastor Mark Gierus
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‘Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it’ (Luke 17:33).
Have you ever tried to hang onto something too tightly? Then you find out it is the wrong thing that you are hanging onto? It happens often in life, doesn’t it?
You know, even in our church organisations, some of those rules we hold onto very tightly sometimes push others away. We hold on tight, not wanting to lose the things that, in the end, are not very important, especially when it comes to eternal life in Jesus. We justify it by telling ourselves that we are fighting for an honourable thing. Often the honourable thing is not what God calls honourable. Instead, it is selfish.
When it comes to life, we are no different. How much do we want to sometimes get out of a church service because it is going too long, so we can get on with living – you know, the living for ourselves? We fight people so much, wanting to do what we want to do at the expense of another. We put down those around us when we are challenged to give something up for them.
We see it in shopping centres – people cutting others off in order to get the last item that they want. When the COVID pandemic first hit us earlier this year, the ugly scenes of an attitude of entitlement came out so strongly. ‘I want all this toilet paper for me; get out of my way.’
We read in St Paul’s letter to the Galatians, ‘Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires’.
So, Jesus calls us to follow him as we are – but he will not leave you where you are in life. He will call you to himself, working in you by his Spirit to shape you and mould you to be more and more like him and to help you put to death your old self and selfish ways. Let us stop trying to save our worldly, selfish life that we become unhappy with. Let us give it up so we can live in Jesus in all we do.
Dear Lord, let me daily put to death my selfishness and to keep my eyes fixed on you. Go with me into the world each day to serve others, putting their needs before my own, for I know that you provide all I need in this life and the next. Amen.
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