9 August 2019 - gaining life

Today's Readings

(Audio)

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?

And yet are we not still living largely for this world? Often we invest so much in saving that which is passing and temporal that we forget about the eternal destiny that awaits us. We do good things for others and for ourselves that prioritize the needs of the moment over the eternal purpose that we all share.

For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay each according to his conduct.

We should be allowing God to form us into people ready to meet the Son of Man when he comes again. This is a call to a more difficult and uncomfortable kind of love. It is indeed a love that makes the best of the world here and now. But it refuses to choose that world over and against eternity. It knows, for instance, the value of speaking a hard word or making an unpopular choice.

We must take up our crosses and follow Jesus. To do so we must first know who he is and what he did for us.

For love of your fathers he chose their descendants
and personally led you out of Egypt by his great power,
driving out of your way nations greater and mightier than you,
so as to bring you in
and to make their land your heritage, as it is today.

Jesus himself first bore his own cross to lead us from the Egypt of sin through the desert into the eternal promised land. Only in his company can we ourselves follow. Only because he bears our burdens (see Matthew 11:28-30) can we carry our own crosses.

This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart,
that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.

If we only tacitly acknowledge this truth of who God is, who we are, and the calling he gives us, it will be taken from us before we know it. We need to set our minds and keep them set on the things that are above (see Colossians 3:2).

I remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I remember your wonders of old.
And I meditate on your works;
your exploits I ponder.