Living Stones – Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Gaining the whole world
Luke 9:25
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
We are still on this question of self-denial. Jesus, starting in verse 24 of Luke 9, made a contrast between losing your life for His sake and gaining the world.
We have been trained to gain the world. We live our lives in a relentless pursuit of qualifications, positions, and things.
Everyone has a right to an education and should take the available opportunities to get it. Everyone needs work and should find the best available work or employment. And everyone needs things to function and education and work allows us to acquire the things we need to function properly.
However, we can let these very good things so dominate our lives that they become all that our lives are about. We also sometimes abuse these good things or use them to abuse others. For example, some get a good job because of their qualifications and then abuse the power that comes with the job or position.
Jesus’ call to self-denial runs counter to the pursuit of any of these very good things as an end in themselves. That’s like just trying to gain the world and ignore our everlasting souls.
A good way to determine quickly if we have balance and are making room for cross-carrying is to examine how we use our time, our talent, our treasure, and our temples (our bodies).
What are we doing with our time? After we have studied or worked, have we made time for worship and for ministry, or are we a part of the spectator generation where we go to church to be entertained and preached to but we have no ministry to others ourselves.
What do we do with our talent? Are these just to be used to trade with and be paid for or are they used in worship and ministry personally or through the church.
Do we have more things than we need while others have none? Are we givers and sharers. Do we give up anything because someone else doesn’t have? Are we responding to disasters and other needs?
Let’s use our possessions as an example. Where we live in Guyana today many people are building homes, including many church members. There is a formal liturgy for dedicating homes in handbooks for pastors. We call it “house warming.” The idea behind the ceremony is that the home would be dedicated as a divine institution – “a nursery of faith, of education, of culture, of beauty, of civilization.” The home is where we are protected from the elements, where we prepare and consume food for nourishment, and where we rest and recuperate.
In one such liturgy it says, “With anticipation of the ministry this house may have to neighbours, friends, relatives, our church people, and others who would knock at and enter these doors … we dedicate this house.” That right there seems so far removed from how many see their houses and homes today – not as a place of ministry to others.
Don’t get the idea that we should not be wise and responsible about our things. Self-denial is not an encouragement to recklessness. If you destroy what you have you won’t be able to take care of yourself or help others.
Nevertheless, our things should meet our needs. And then our things should help us minister to people around us. Many, however, get so attached to their things that the things make them who they are. We, the people of God, should not be defined by our things.
Think on these things:
- Do you give or do you just acquire?
- Beyond meeting your needs are any of your possessions tools, means, or opportunities for ministry?
- Is there anything that you hold on to as if this life alone matters?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we get ahead in life we would not be so consumed with things, or positions, or power tat we loose our souls.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
