Changing the Focus

“Those who want to save their lives will lose them.
But those who lose their lives for Me,
will find them.”
Matthew 16:25

What would it require to save your own life? Wouldn’t it require a total focus on yourself?
Your circumstances, your risks, your possibilities to save yourself, and anyone or anything that might give you a chance to survive would likely capture your entire focus. Panic would set in as you frantically look for anything that might save you from being swallowed up by the danger. Even using another person to be able to save yourself from death would become a very real consideration in order to survive.

Most of us battle with thoughts of not being enough, doing enough, not knowing enough. And looming before us is the thing that gives us faith to take the next step of the Journey We don’t want to die in our wilderness! So we may grab onto the “hope-giver” on our path. . . and hang on for dear life… Even if what we’re clinging to for survival is another human being who is also frantic to survive.

Jesus knew the dangers for human beings on this earth. Desperation to live can mean
grabbing onto anything that floats by . . . even if it’s another human being.

Our desire to survive is deeply ingrained in us. We look for any means of escape from our peril. We hate being afraid. We hate suffering. We hate facing our own death. Jesus understood that about us. He had temptations to save His own life from the death He knew was ahead forHim. He struggled . . . even to the point of sweating blood.

Jesus calls us to follow Him. Wherever that might lead. Whatever it costs us personally. It’s
serious business. It’s scary. It may cost us everything.

But to walk that Path with Him, and to know His nearness as we walk together, is worth all of the unknown’s along the way.