Life that belongs to God
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 16:24-26
When the people of God are confronted with the beauty of God’s holiness, it compels them to bow down before Him in worship. Yet, this seemed to be the struggle of so many believers. A close examination of life reveals what matters to so many believers. The usual attitude is that of agreement with God and interest in Him when His will seemed to be in line with man’s self-interest. When things are not working well in life man runs and cries out to God to provide rescue. But when God’s answer comes and seemed to be different from the expected answer, then he starts to rail against God’s working. At times, man finds comfort when he knows that God is omniscient or all-knowing and is aware of one’s good deeds yet will complain when God starts to hold him accountable for disobedience. It seemed that there are those that the only attributes that they like God to have are grace, mercy, and love. They want these because these characters of God serve man’s purpose. Yet when God executes His justice and holiness, man cringes and question Him for His judgments. Man relishes God only when He seemed to be conforming to man’s personal preferences. Yet from the text, God was very clear to stipulate the terms of His relationship with His followers. It was not about self-seeking attitude that Christian should possess but of willingness to have self-denial for the cause of Christ. This is the attitude that will lead a believer to offer to God his or her life as expression of worship. Do not let self-interest dictate how you will live for Christ. Remember your life once surrendered in Christ belongs to Him. “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
