Sacred Whispers Blog

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’” (ESV)

Matthew 16:24-25

FINDING LIFE IN LOSS

The 2^nd half of this passage strikes us at the core of our being.  This is more than just a call to surrender, this is a call to lose our life for the higher purposes of Christ.  The call of Jesus in this passage may appear on the surface to be fatalistic, but rest assured this call does not lead to ruin, but rather it leads to redemption. In a world preoccupied with self-preservation, power, status, and success, Jesus turns this world’s cultural paradigm upside down and calls us to “find our life” by giving it away.

Think of a young, talented college graduate, who so happens to be the son of missionaries who serve in the huts and fields of the poorest and most destitute of our world.  This young graduate vows not to relegate his life to the hard and meager conditions of the home that he grew up in.  He is ready to go out and make his mark on the world.  His mind is full of creative ideas, and his heart is pounding with hopes and dreams of a better life than the one he grew up around. Finally, his opportunity to explore the world around him has come and he prepares himself for the promises of the success that it holds.

And then in a dream just mere days before he is to leave the poverty that has characterized his life, he senses the clear and undeniable voice of God calling him to a life of missions work just like the life he is so desperately trying to escape.  God offers him no promises, does not guarantee him success, and assures him that his road will be hard and his journey will be filled with sacrifice and uncertainty.

What would you do if you were in his place? I know that I would hesitate and think long and hard about how this call would derail the expectations of what I desired my life to be. If we are honest, most of us would do the same. The thought of surrendering everything, even in a situation such as this, feels overwhelming and maybe even impossible. Yet, it is precisely in this moment of tension that we hear Jesus calling us to lose our life for His sake.

THE FREEDOM OF SURRENDER

Jesus never hid the cost of discipleship. He clearly admits that following Him requires self-denial, a willingness to lose our life, and a commitment to trust Him with our future. But this is not a call to fear and failure. This is a call to freedom and fulfillment.

To deny ourselves is not to lose our identity but to discover it in its truest form. When we loosen our hold on the fleeting, shallow things of this life like our possessions, our ambitions, our illusions of control—we open our hands to receive what is eternal. We step out of the narrow confines of our own self-interest and into the vast array of God’s plans and purposes for our life.

The life we are called to lose is unique to each of us. For some, it may be the burden of forgiveness, the challenge of obedience, or shallow concepts of success. It may mean trusting God with unrealized dreams or relinquishing personal desires that we’ve held on to for years. Whatever it is, losing our the shadow of our old life for the substance of His new one is never done in vain.

THE TRANSFORMATIVE PATH

The story I shared with you earlier points toward the true story of Jim Elliot.  Jim Elliot was a young man whose parents were in ministry, and he sensed a call to the mission field.  He gave up a promising life in architecture and public speaking to serve the unreached Huaorani people of South America.  He pursued the call to missions and gave the ultimate sacrifice when, at the age of 28, he died on the mission field in Ecuador.  Elliot died sharing Christ with people who had never had the privilege of hearing His name.  In 1956, Life magazine published an article highlighting the enormity of his faith and the cost of his commitment to Christ.  Since then, schools, books and documentaries have been established in honor of Elliot’s life.  Jim Elliot summed up his life in a preserved note where he famously wrote, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Jim Elliot understood the cost of discipleship and the promise embedded within it. He lived and died with the conviction that surrendering to God’s call was worth more than clinging to earthly safety.  We may not be called to physically lose our life, we may simply be called to lose our image, or to lose a few friends, or to lose an opportunity that didn’t align with God’s will for your life.  But no matter what part of our lives we are called to sacrifice, we must not see the sacrifice as a loss, but rather we must see it as an offering.

LIFE BEYOND OUR OWN

The Apostle Paul words echo in the chambers of our hearts when he says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) The invitation to lose our lives for Christ’s sake is a call to live a transformed, transcendent life.  Our lives are not measured by what we keep, they are measured by what we give away.  It is not the height of our accomplishments, but it is the depths of our surrender that leaves a lasting impact in the earth.  My prayer is to die empty; to have given out all that I have received for the glory of the One who has called me to the altar of sacrifice.  This, and only this, is my reasonable service.

PRAYER

Lord, the call to follow You is one that requires a spirit loaded with courage and heart filled with faith. I confess that often I am too preoccupied by my own plans, my own desires, and my own understanding to heed Your call. Teach me to trust You with every part of my life. Help me to release my hold on what is temporary and to embrace what is eternal. As I surrender to Your will, may I find the life You have promised—a life of purpose, peace, and joy in Your presence. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

DAILY SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

Identify one area in your life where you’re holding on too tightly—be it a relationship, a career goal, or a personal far. Write it down and pray over it, asking God to help you surrender it to Him. Reflect on how releasing this to God can lead to deeper trust and freedom. Then, take a practical step of obedience, whether it’s forgiving someone, letting go of an unmet expectation, or trusting God with an uncertain future.

Through surrender, we find the strength to live not for ourselves but for the One who gave His all for us. Let this be the legacy of our discipleship: a life lived fully and freely for the glory of God.