loss in christ

 “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25 NAS95

The societies of the world have been bent on the gaining mentality for most of human history. At the end of the day, that is exactly what the serpent tempted our first mother with: stretch out your hand, disobey and your will gain Godlikeness. The above statement of the Lord Jesus, on the other hand, is a call to lose. All of his teachings are paradoxes, and this statement is an example of them. Not only his call to lose is against the fallen human heart, but also it was against the cultures of His time, especially Rome’s. By the time, Jesus is introduced in human history, the Roman Empire has been built on the idea of gaining by the use of force, war and abuse. If there was anything that Rome prized above everything else, it was the idea that one must win all and lose nothing at all costs. The Jewish nation under the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees was no different. By the first century AD, the pure faith given by God through Moses and the prophets has degraded into ‘a good deeds will get you into heaven’ religion, where the more you had, the more you could do to guarantee your entrance into paradise. The Lord himself rebuked the Jewish people with their leaders for believing this deception and called them to repent and return to the revealed Word of God.

Gaining is so ingrained into our minds that at the thought of losing, our hearts can sink within us with unimageable fears. I also believe that fearing loss is understandable since the Creator at the beginning did not make us to experience loss. Everything was awesome back then. Adam was the King of the Earth, and God had set him up for success and not failure. His disobedience caused the ‘loss principle’ to invade the human experience as recorded in Scriptures. Since the Fall occurred, humanity has been pursuing gaining at all cost as a way to find happiness and meaning in this life. Sadly and to our shame, history is replete with examples that this pursue has only caused unimaginable loss, pain and suffering, which are just the results of believing the lies of the devil.

I love it that the Son of God had to become flesh and tabernacled with us, so He could direct us to the truth, and be delivered from this deception of gaining at all costs. The sad and hardest part, hence the paradox, is that to really gain in an eternal significance, we must first lose it all for Him. The above statement is one of my favorites in the whole of Scriptures, but I confess that it is easier to say it than to do it. For many of Christ’s disciples throughout church history, this has meant the loss of properties, friendships, families, jobs and even life itself. For Christians in the West, our sacrifices do not compare to these dear believers’, but loss is loss, nonetheless, no matter the shape or form it takes. Pain and suffering are not the ideas we embrace with great pleasure because these are the things we spend our lives trying to avoid at all costs. On the other hand, these are the things Christ calls us to expect and endure if we want to follow Him. How hard it is to be a disciple of Christ! He himself said that it would cost us our most inner desires, and plans, our very lives and our loyal obedience. I believe this is the reason so few people truly believe and obey the Lord, just as He said it in another place: “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” Luke 13:24 NAS95. It is not a natural faculty for humans to give up their independence, aspirations, and desires( evil and otherwise) to follow a crucified Savior. I understand that because He conquered death and the grave, if I lose my life, I will gain it at the end of days. However, as I am experiencing the loss, all I feel is pain, and pain is painful(forgive my redundancy) and not easy thing to endure. As I am writing this words, I am reminded of this: my Lord was the first one to experience loss for the sake of fulfilling His Father’s will, other believers have too endured loss and I am not alone in the process. God in his marvelous love for His people has given us weapons to use in times of loss and distress: His Word, His Spirit, prayers and the community of disciples. With each new storm that comes my way, I realize more and more how much in need I am of such weapons, specially prayer, where I can tell my Kurios(Lord) and my Theos(God) how weak I am and in need of His power.

"I sought the LORD, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears." Psalm 34:4 NAS95

" ...I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ..." Philippians 3:8 NAS95