Losing Your Life to Save It
2004 : Week 8 | Website Version
This week’s message is from our friend Jon Bricker. John has had several messages posted on our Site, and they are always full of love and passion for Jesus Christ. Today is no different, and we’re sure this message will bless you.
Mark 8:35-36, as revealed by the Holy Spirit to Jon Bricker…
This day and age seem to be one where more and more people are asking that age-old question, “What is the purpose of life?” Maybe it just seems that way to me because I am 27 and interested in making certain that I do not spend too much of my life expending all of my time, energy, love, passion, strength, and intellect towards something that in the end turns out to be in vain.
As I grow as both a Christian and as a human being, I grow less and less afraid of death, disease, and sickness; but more and more afraid of wasting my life.
I believe that if you surveyed most people in the United States and asked them whether or not they would like to waste their lives, the overwhelming majority would say, “No, I don’t want to waste my life.”
If, however, you asked those same people whether or not they’d like to live their lives in such a way that their lives would actually impact the world for eternity, many would say, “Well, I don’t know about that. That sounds too big for little old me.”
So, we have a situation where although most people do not want to waste their lives, they don’t especially care whether or not their life will make an impact on eternity. But there is a problem here. Our lives, yours and mine, are only capable of doing one of two things…making an impact on eternity, or being tragically wasted. There is no third option. Impact eternity with your life or waste your life…those are your options.
But most people don’t care if their life impacts eternity. They just want to be liked. They want friends and maybe a spouse: eventually a family, a good job. They want to feel respected. Maybe they want to feel needed or accepted.
All of us have needs and desires. And God knows them…each one of them. And He is fully capable of meeting each one of our needs Himself. But He has a bigger plan for our lives than marriage, although it might include that. He has a bigger purpose for you than your job, or even your family. See, those are all personal, temporary desires. But God has a global, eternal purpose for your life! You and I were created for a global, eternal purpose! And if that is the purpose for which we were created, then to not live for that purpose is to waste our lives!
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“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” - Mark 8:35
And what is it that God wants you to do with your life? There are many different ways to say it, but I say it like this – to know Him and to make Him known. That is your purpose. That is my purpose. That is what it means to lose your life for His sake and the gospel’s. To focus all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength on that one eternal, global purpose is to not waste your life. The great apostle Paul got it right when he said near the end of his life, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain!” (Philippians 1:21, ESV)
Please don’t believe the lie of Satan that says, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” If you have not lived for the purpose that God created you for up to now, it’s not too late! It may seem like it from our perspective, but with God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE…even losing your life to live for Him!
**Words of Jesus Christ appear in Red
