The life God wants you to have

…You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? Matthew 16:23-26 Jesus told His disciples that they have to view things in life through His perspective. These include the pursuit of things in the world. Anything that will take you away from making Christ supreme over your life will prevent you from pursuing the things that matters to the Kingdom of God. This can only happen when Christians obey the command to lose their lives. “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it (Matthew 16:25).” One of the greatest hindrances that will prevent you being on mission with God will be your view of what constitutes your “legitimate rights”; that is, those things that you feel you have a right to experience and enjoy. Jesus told His disciples to trust Him to provide you what you need and to turn over to Christ those things that will not constitute a sacrifice or that you would prefer to do without anyway. “These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:32-33). When you insist in pursuing these things that you think are good and that are dear to you, they may end up standing between you and God’s will. Jesus modeled perfectly this attitude toward life. He had a legitimate right to enjoy the comforts of heaven; yet, He did not look at it as a right He should hold on to. He did not see leaving all that was His as a sacrifice too costly to make (see Philippians 2:5-11). As a result, God the Father highly exalted Him and His death on the cross brought salvation to a broken world. Then the Apostle Paul admonished Christians to follow Christ’s example: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Philippians 2:5). Has the world convinced you that there are certain rights that you must protect or there are things that you need to pursue? What you think might help you preserve your life in the end might cause you to lose it because that might not be the life God wants you to have.

Blessings.