For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Mark 8:35
Ever notice that most of the things we pursue in life happen by giving them away?
Take LOVE for instance. If we try to hold onto love and keep it for ourselves, than those we want love from tend to pull back. Perfect case in point: The summer I graduated from high school, I met a girl and hit it off. We started dating and I really enjoyed her company. But more than that, I really enjoyed her wanting to be in my company. I started chasing her to get her for myself, instead of pursuing her as a person. Our relationship became more and more turbulent, and she finally was wise enough to break off the relationship. When I was generous with love I found it ... but when I tried to keep it for myself I lost it.
Another example would be HAPPINESS. How often do we discover something that makes us happy - like a new song, or a hobby, or an experience - and we try to recreate the happiness we felt by repeating it 100 times. Somehow, going back to recreate the experience doesn't quite capture the complete measure of happiness we felt the first time, and our efforts to repeat it become more intense ... even to the point we start getting "unhappy" with those who don't help us recreate it properly. Could it be that one of the keys to finding happiness is actually to enjoy the new things we're doing instead of trying to recreate the old?
There's many other examples - but the biggest one is LIFE itself. God gave us the gift of LIFE, and we try to hold onto it, filling our life to the maximum with all we can get out of it, only to discover there's no way to ever find fullness. Something always gets left out, some experience doesn't get done, some dream never happens, and the more we try to hold on to life, the less living we get to do. That's especially true when we make this life our goal - by choosing to get the most for ourselves, we drop the purpose God intended for us, and all we get is what this life offers. But when we let go of this life to pursue God's purposes, we discover LIFE the way He intended.
That's why Jesus makes the point to His disciples: if you hold onto this life, that's all you get. But if you let it go and live for me - you get both this life & eternal life. Your choice.
Our lesson today? Stop holding onto love and give it away... stop trying to recreate happiness and let the new things of today create happiness... stop living for this life and start using this life to live for the next. Holding on will get you what you grabbed, but miss out on everything you could potentially have. Letting Go opens your hands to receive the better things God has for you.
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