It Will Cost You Everything

The closer I get to Jesus the more I am confronted with the extent of what He demands from those that follow Him.  This is definitely not a faith for whimps!  Jesus doesn’t ask for only the parts you are willing to give;  He doesn’t ask for even 90% of your life.  He is bold enough to ask for EVERYTHING!  Yep, you read that right, EVERYTHING!

To our sin-stained flesh that sounds a bit too extreme.  I mean, c’mon Jesus, aren’t you expecting too much? We think He does this to make it tougher than it already is.  We think that we will lose out and have to give up what we love most.  We think it is so unfair for Jesus to demand it all, so we fight Him for it.  We kick and scream.  We yell in protest.  We complain and moan.  But, why does Jesus really ask this of us?

In Isaiah 55 we find the start of an explanation.  Read these well known verses, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8-9 ESV)  So, what we think is losing out, God sees differently.  What we think is too much and over the top, God does not change His mind.  The thing is, the Christian life is full of what we call oxymorons.  An “Oxymoron” is not a moron full of oxygen, but is defined as, “…a figure of speech which produces seemingly self-contradictory statements, as in ‘cruel kindness’, ‘to make haste slowly’ or ‘deafening silence’.”  So an oxymoron is a combination of words that don’t usually go together.  Another one would be “Miserable Christian”!

Jesus used this to teach us a very valuable truth.  Read what He said in Mark 8:35 (ESV), “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Say what Jesus?  Again He says in John 12:25 (ESV), “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” What does Jesus mean?  Is Jesus just trying to confuse us with these oxymoronic statements?

Jesus obviously knows something we don’t.  Remember, His ways are beyond ours, so let’s dig deeper to understand this.  In a nutshell Jesus simply means this…If you hold onto your life, where you rule it, you direct it, you own it and expect to be close with Jesus, you are dreaming.  Someone once said, “God sends none away empty expect those that are full of themselves”.  So to save your life, or hold onto it because of your pride will mean you will lose it in God’s sight.  Such people have no standing before our Holy God.  He will not esteem anyone who will not let go of the flesh and sin.  But on the other-hand, if we are willing to let go of our rights, our agendas, our will, our control, our opinions and give Jesus complete access, we then cross over into a place of living empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit.  And let me tell you, God’s ways are by no means boring and dull!  You haven’t lived life until you lived it with Jesus.

So, don’t get scared by Jesus’ high demands of surrender, He calls for it because He knows that the abundant life He promises can only be attained with this level of commitment.  Don’t listen to what your flesh or satan is telling you, listen to Jesus and trust Him enough to believe that He knows what He is talking about.  We are by no means smarter than Him and if He says, “Lose your life for my sake”, it is in our best interests to obey without question.  Go on, don’t hold back any longer, you’re missing out!

To close this post, sit back and put 11 minutes aside and watch this clip of a preacher speaking on this subject.  It might be a little shocking to you, but resist the urge to reject it. Rather push in harder to Jesus and really know what its like to LIVE!

It Will Cost You Everything from I’ll Be Honest on Vimeo.