Online Bible Verses - Luke 9: 23-24 lose it in order to save it

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”

Luke 9: 23-24

Jesus speaking here. His message, that a saving relationship with Him does not entail a partial or part time commitment. Rather, it requires that we invite Him into our very being. Once that is taken care of, He undertakes a work in us according to His own plan and timing.

Of particular note in above, we see faith demonstrated with action:

“deny themselves”, “take up their cross daily”, and “follow me”.

There was a time when I saw this all or nothing proposition as an impossibility for me. Reason being, I wanted to hold onto some things. Things that I knew, in my heart, God would eliminate. The major problem here, a serious misunderstanding of His message had taken place. I was under the impression that once I cleaned up my act, I would gain access to His blessings. What His word later told me, the order of operation needed to be reversed: I already had full access to Him, and the mess could be cleaned up via His work in me. It was about Him first, not me. Only about me because of His love.

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”

The day one recognizes and calls upon Him as Lord is the day a former life is lost. A new life begins, one which will never end.