Its all about Him

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

Mark 8: 35-36 (New King James Version)

This Sunday as we stood in worship I could not help but notice this little boy… he must be around 7-8 years old. He had his one arm wrapped around his Bible and his other arm raised towards heaven and he was crying , he was pouring his heart out to our Lord and I just prayed “Lord may I always have a heart of worship like that !! Totally devoted to you , simple and pure like a child”. I am blessed with two nephews. The older one wanted a helicopter toy the one with a remote. And I told him I would get it. He did not worry how or when I would get it. He did not try to fit his thinking to mine. He just knew if I said something, I would do it. I remember once when I went up in church to testify , my nephew saw me up front , wriggled away from my mother and came straight up to me as I was testifying and hugged me and stood with me sweetly till I finished and walked back to the seat with me. Aren’t children amazing ? Circumstances around don’t matter to them :-)

Do we have a heart like that when it comes to the Lord ? Or are we busy holding on to the things of the world ? We read that “ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” What is our desire ? When we are faced with choices to lie , to bribe , to become one with the world …what do we do ? Do we say , “Sorry I am a citizen of heaven and I live by what my King says” or do we say , “Well , if I don’t drink with them and hang out then I wont be considered cool and I wont get promoted !” Do we say , “well its only a class test , its ok to cheat” … “hey everyone cheats on their taxes by giving false bills, so whats the big deal if I do it ?” …. ‘its ok to watch that channel , its ok to pass those kind of comments … everyone does it..”

We read in verse 38, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” First thing we need to understand is we are not of the world. Yes we live in an adulterous and sinful generation where even an advertisement for a bag is tied to adultery. The flesh will try and pull us towards the world. But we are to hold on to Him. It does not matter what the world has to offer. Christ has already given us something priceless. His blood shed on the cross for us. There will come many instances where you say ‘No sorry I cant do that’.. ‘Nope I wont do that’ why ? Because the Bible tells me so :-) share the word with them. Pray for them. They may not always understand. But never hesitate from planting the word of God in their life. The word is living and powerful. God can do wonders.

We read in verse 34,”When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them , “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Its not about the car we need to buy or the house we need to build … its all about Him. If we desire to follow Him , first step deny our self. In other words, things of this flesh get crucified. And we take upon us the things of God and walk where He leads. He is our priority.

And when the world around us tries to pull us towards itself , we take a stand for Him .Do not be ashamed of who we are in Him ! Its all about Him and we live our lives not by what the world says is ok but by what the word of God says. That little boy had a heart lifted up to God in worship. He wasn’t bothered about people around him . It did not matter if he used grammatically correct statements , it probably would not have mattered if I had placed him with all the presidents in the world. Simple childlike worship. Not complicated by the things of the world or circumstances. It simple : I am in the presence of my King and that’s all that matters.

If we find ourselves entangled by the things of the world its time to be set free. Our God is faithful and so patient. He will pluck our feet when we get stuck. We serve an awesome God !

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them , “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

God Bless