I have been thinking lately about that verse of Scripture from Matthew 10:39: "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." The words are important to understand as is the one who said these words -- Jesus. I gave my life to Jesus when I was a young boy and each and every day since that time Jesus has given my life back to me. The life I gave was a 'me' life. The life I receive back each day is a 'we' life - a life lived in community with others and for the sake of others.
Thinking about this verse reminded me of the words of evangelical Christian author, Philip Yancey. When Yancey was just "one year old, his father, stricken with polio, died after church members suggested he go off life support in faith that God would heal him. This and other negative experiences with a rigid church contributed to Yancey's losing his faith at one point of time." His words that I lift up are:
"Inspection stickers used to have printed on the back 'Drive carefully - the life you save may be your own.' That is the wisdom of humankind [instead of man] in a nutshell. What God says, on the other hand, is 'The life you save is the life you lose.' In other words, the life you clutch, hoard, guard, and play safe with is in the end a life worth little to anybody, including yourself: and only a life given away for love's sake is worth living."
Yancey continues,
"To bring the [instead of his] point home, God shows us a man who gave his life away to the extent of dying a national disgrace without a penny in the bank or a friend to his name. In terms of
humankind's [instead of man's] wisdom, Jesus [instead of he] was a perfect fool, and anybody who thinks s/he [instead of he] can follow him without making something like the same kind of fool of him or herself [instead of himself] is laboring under not a cross but a delusion."
The surest way to shrivel up the Christian faith is to hold it close, in Yancey's words, to hoard it, to guard it, and to play safe with it. A Christian faith held tightly smothers and dies. But vibrant is the Christian faith that is loosed out to the world and out to peoples long shackled by holding on too tightly. Letting go produces some distinct advantages, the most distinct is finding ourselves, our faith, and our God! If you want the Christian faith to embed itself in a whole new generation, let go of it, loose it, and let God do the rest.
Loosely yours,