Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25
“In the world of thriving church faithfulness that is emerging, people within and beyond the church make different assumptions: God requires only one sacrifice–myself–and therefore, my lifestyle and God’s mission are one. The real issue is not whether I am willing to give up my life to acknowledge Jesus, but whether I am willing to give up my lifestyle to follow Jesus.”
Thomas Bandy in the Foreword to Beyond the Collection Plate: Overcoming Obstacles to Faithful Giving (Nashville: Abingdon, 2003) 12.
In trying “to save their life” many will lose it, or in Bandy’s words, they will not be willing to give up their lifestyle, so they will never take hold of the life Jesus offers. Will you? This past Sunday Bridgeway Community Church Pastor James Hoxworth put it this way: “If there is anything in your life you can’t give away, you don’t own it, it owns you.” So here’s the real issue: Have you given up your lifestyle to follow Jesus? Are you willing to?