Friday 5 Aug 2022

August 5: Matthew 16:24-28

Key Verse: Matthew 16:25
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Devotion:
When Jesus was saying these words to the disciples, I bet they could not get their heads round it at the time, not just because He had just talked about His death, but because what He was saying here was probably not how they were brought up. So many people say things like “you only live once” or “live life to the full” because they can’t get their heads round the price of life!

Jesus was saying in order to live a fuller life, the disciples would have to put their own lives aside and focus on the lives of others, including God! What He was saying was people who set aside their own lives and do everything to please Christ will find they lives a fuller life than if they tried to live the best life they could for themselves.

When we focus on ourselves we tend to get tied up in the world and lose focus on what is important. We focus more and more on the trappings and temptations in life and less and less n getting the most out of what we do. Getting the most out of life is not all about taking everything you can from the world, but more like how much you can put back into the lives of those around you, including the world.

God gave us this world for us to manage and maintain. He did not give us a sweet shop and tell us to eat as much as we could until we were sick. He gave us a plot of land and everything we need to tend to the land to give us the best crops we can get. He wants us to work together and with others rather than focusing on what we can get out of life!

Points to Ponder:
Do you live life to the most?

How much of your life contains Christ?