SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/6/2022 8:54 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-1
“The Paradox”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 16:25-26
Message of the verses: “25 “For whoever
wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake
shall find it. 26 “For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole
world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
I found this meaning of the word “paradox” and
thought that I would begin with it: a seemingly absurd or
self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained
may prove to be well founded or true.”
The paradox that we are looking at today and probably tomorrow has to do
with “whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life
for My sake shall find it.”
We see the words life and soul in
these verses and these words are synonymous with each other and with the self
as seen in verse 24, and so all three words represent the inner person, the “real
you.”
John MacArthur writes “What may here
seem to be a complex and contradictory idea is really quite simple. The Lord is saying that whoever lives only to
save his earthly, physical life his ease and comfort and acceptance by the
world, will lose his opportunity for eternal life. But whoever is willing to give up his earthly,
worldly life and suffer and die, if necessary, for Christ’s sake, will find eternal
life. Every person has a choice. He can ‘go for it’ now and lose it forever,
or he can forsake it now and gain it forever.”
I have written many, many Spiritual Diaries since I began all the way
back in the 1980’s and from time to time there are what seem to be special
paragraphs or themes that have stood out, but this quotation from MacArthur has
to be one of those that stands out, at least for me in this moment of my walk
with the Lord. You see when you are a
believer and try and study the Word of God each day, the Lord feeds you with
what He desires for you to learn for the particular time period of your life
and the circumstances you are in, and all I can say is that He has done it
again for me and I am thankful.
In Matthew 13:22 we read about how
Jesus identified the false believer who makes initial gestures of following the
gospel, but will not let go of the world with all of its trinkets, as we see in
that verse that the trinkets are bad soil full of weeds that choke out true
spiritual life. “"And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns,
this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the
deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
It is the true disciple who is willing to pay
whatever price faithfulness to the Lord requires. The price could be like the many, many,
thousands or probably millions of believers who have given up their life for
the cause of Christ. Not all will give
up their lives for the cause of Christ but the point is that we all should be
willing to do so if that is what the Lord desires for us to do. The price may mean suffering like the apostle
Paul went through as we read about his sufferings in 2nd
Corinthians, a story that he seemed not really willing to share, but he
did.
10/6/2022 9:28 AM
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