Day 2716 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Matthew 10:38 NIV

What are you willing to lose?

That question has been rolling around my mind for several days now. Contrary to what some out there are teaching, a life of faith isn't one of worldly gain. Giving our lives over to Jesus doesn't mean we'll find fame, fortune, comfort, or acceptance. We've touched on that over the last few days. Most recently, yesterday's post discussed this opportunity we have to become undignified among those who have no problem pointing out our foolishness and their opinions about our faith. But all too often, we tend to find ourselves catering far too much to the preferences and pressures of the world around us.

And it's hard to keep from it. This place has all of these expectations that everyone is expected to adhere to in their lives. There's this modus operandi amongst this society that tells us how we're expected to live, what we're allowed to believe, and what we had better agree with. But the thing that we as Christians need to always keep firmly in mind is that we're not of this place any longer. We've been saved, redeemed, and made new through a rebirth into a life that we've chosen to spend following Christ and serving His will. The opinions and expectations of this world no longer have any hold on us.

Or do they? Do those social expectation still manifest themselves in this fear of standing out or being rejected for boldly sharing our faith? Do we still entertain the thoughts and opinions of the masses when we consider just how far we’re willing to go in sharing the truth of the Gospel? Do we allow the world’s penchant for darkness to prevent our reflecting of Christ’s light? Do we veer more toward remaining silent and reserved in regard to our faith out of the fear of being labeled weirdos or freaks or foolish outsiders? Do we let the very clear stance of the majority down here keep us from celebrating our faith? Do we allow the threat of persecution to keep us from dancing before God and throwing off the world’s expectations to simply keep our beliefs to ourselves?

You see, those are all rather big parts of that question I posed at the start of today's post. What are you willing to lose? If our faith doesn't cause us to lose anything then how can we ever expect to find anything? If we don't lose our worldly ways then how can they be replaced with faithful perspectives? If we don't lose our worldly concerns then how can we find room in our hearts for Heavenly priorities? If we don't die to who we've been and the lives we've lived then how can we say we've been born again through the death of Christ?

Our faith brings death, or at least it should. Death to self. Death to peer pressure. Death to material slavery. Death to chasing the priorities of a fallen world. Death to worrying about what anyone may think of us. Death to this willingness to allow this place to define us. Death to the weakness that we once allowed to dictate our thoughts, our actions, our words. Death to this idea that we have to live a certain way in order to be liked and accepted in this place. Death to holding worldly vices in such high regard as we're no longer concerned about gaining worldly favor or fortune as we have hearts set on storing up treasure in Heaven.

So what are we willing to lose in order to follow Christ? As He tells us here in Matthew chapter 10, if we're not willing to take up our cross and follow Him then we're not worthy of Him. If we're not willing to die to self then we're not worthy of saying that we're living for Him. If we don't nail our worldly concerns to the cross and leave them dying on the ground behind us then we're not truly following Christ. It's just as simple as that. If there remains any of our old lives in our hearts then we're still caught between this world and the one to come and we have yet to fully embrace the calling to leave everything behind and follow our King.

I reckon the most important question for us to consider is who are we living for in the time we have left on this earth? Are we living to make people like us? Are we living to put forth this image that the world will accept? Are we hiding a truth within our hearts that the world needs to hear all because we know that they don't want to hear it and we're afraid of what they'll do or say should we speak up? Are we still trying to please people? Because as Galatians 1:10 tells us, if we're still trying to please people then we are not servants of Christ.

Are we trying to prove ourselves worthy in Christ's eyes, or in the world's eyes? And if we still care about what this world does to us, thinks of us, or says about us then doesn't that prove that we're still at least somewhat rooted in this world? If we had truly been set free and reborn through baptism by the Holy Spirit, then this world and all of the opinions and expectations therein should have absolutely no bearing on who we are, what we do, or most of all how we express our faith in Christ. We shouldn't be willing to waste a moment worrying about anyone's opinion or what they want us to say or do or think. We're not here for anyone else because we're claiming that we serve Jesus, and if we serve Jesus then we can't serve this world too.

But are we willing to lose the approval and appreciation that millions find in social justification? Are we willing to lose friendships, jobs, dreams, plans? Are we willing to lay down our lives if it meant letting the world see just how much we trust in Christ? Are we willing to lose everything we've found in this world so that it can be replaced with a hope of what's to come when this world has passed away behind us? Are we willing to walk away from the easy, comfortable, wide, and well-travelled paths of this world to follow Christ into the unknown?

As we discussed yesterday, are we willing to lose our dignity and pride and personal honor in order to been seen as foolish in the world's opinion for holding tightly to a faith in something that many deny? Are we willing to lose this sense of perfection that we've long been taught to pursue? Are we willing to lose popularity, prosperity, and even personal safety as we venture along a path that will bring all sorts of stinging rebuke and social retaliation as we take up this calling to share a truth that many down here will detest?

Friends, my point is that if we're still comfortable then something's wrong. If we're still popular then something is wrong. If the message we share brings cheers and celebration and this wide-stretching approval then something is clearly wrong. In a world so dark and twisted and comfortably lost, the truth of the Gospel should be widely rejected and bring that rejection right to our front doors. We should be hated because what we're claiming to stand for goes against everything this place enjoys. We should be persecuted as this world fights against those who go against them by speaking against the lies that they have chosen to believe.

And so, if we're comfortable in our faith and if the sharing of our faith brings millions of fans and followers, then we should probably ask ourselves what we're actually sharing and how it's going to well? Jesus had 12 disciples, and all of them met pretty unenjoyable ends. They took up their crosses and lived lives that led to arrests, violence, hatred, and death. How is that we look around and see this version of religion that's widely popular and considered fun? I think we've lost what it is that we're supposed to be and traded it for some kind of world-friendly nonsense that brings us the opportunity to stay comfortable and never have to risk losing anything, especially our lives.

Friends, a faith that requires nothing offers nothing. If our faith doesn't bring a very real risk of hatred and persecution, then what are we gaining and where’s the power in it? If we speak a word that brings applause then what change have we made? Now I'm not saying that our time here should nothing but misery, but considering just how revolutionary and controversial the truth of God's Word really is, how could it ever be comfortable or easy?

We need to reassess the fruit we're bearing by reconsidering the seeds we're planting. Are we living our lives trying to gain something worldly whether it be monetarily or materially or socially? Or are we going against the grain and seeing every little bit and piece of this world stripped away as we move forward? Going against the grain of this world should cause a friction that stings and hurts and strips away every worldly concern or focus that we've ever had. And if we're not feeling that kind of loss, then have we really lost the grip this world has had in us?

Friends, seek the hard road. Speak the truth that God gave us to share. Dance and sing and laugh and show the world just how different you've been made in Jesus. Live lives that testify to your faith, completely unwilling to stop or slow down or worry about what anyone may say or think. Find the courage to be willing to lose everything of this world knowing that we don't need anything from this world. We need to rid ourselves of every worldly vice and venture because it's only when we find ourselves completely void of all worldly concerns that we can be empty enough to be filled with the Holy Spirit that guides us to lives that mean something.

So what are you willing to lose? What are you afraid of losing? Does this world still have any weight or concern or control in your life, or have you taken steps following Christ that have given you a list of things you've lost along the way that testify to your new life? A lot of questions in this one, but I think our faith needs to be tested and one of the best ways to test it is to take stock of where we've been, where we are, and what we need to do to ensure that where we're going is where we've been called to go: Away from the ways of this world and toward our Savior along the narrow path that leads to life.

If we’re afraid of losing anything by following Christ then we’re not worthy of Him or the gift He gave everything to give us. It simply doesn’t matter what this world does, thinks, says, or takes from us. If we’re following Jesus then we have nothing to lose. And friends, it’s time that we live lives that prove that. Unafraid, unashamed, undignified, unhindered, unrestrained, unstoppable.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold