God’s ways are usually opposite to our way of thinking. To save our life we think we must cater to all our needs, pamper to our flesh, and have our own way. But God says we’ll save our life by losing it! That’s certainly the opposite to our way, isn’t it?
Jesus said in Mark 8:35: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” This Scripture has always been the greatest challenge of my life. It was the greatest test in my mothering. But I learned over the years that God’s way is right. It’s the best way. The only way. When we try to save ourselves we lose. When we try to find out who we are by catering to our needs, we become confused.
The way to abundant life is losing your own life by pouring it out for others. Jesus takes the challenge even further when He said in John 12:24, 25: “Truly, truly, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”
I love the lines from Elisabeth Elliot in her book “Love Has a Price Tag” where she writes: “The routines of housework and mothering may be seen as a kind of death, and it is appropriate that they should be, for they offer the chance, day after day, to lay down one’s life for others. Then they are no longer routines. By being done with love and offered up to God with praise, they are thereby hallowed as the vessels of the tabernacle were hallowed. A mother’s part in sustaining the life of her children and making it pleasant and comfortable is no triviality. It calls for self-sacrifice and humility, but it is the route, as was the humiliation of Jesus, to glory.”
In other words, it is the path to glory. Check out these Scriptures too: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; Philippians 2:5-9; and 1 Peter 1:7.
We get another glimpse of the life in which God delights when we read the description of the older women God wants the church to provide for and to bless: “She must have been the faithful wife of one husband. She must have a reputation for good works. She can only be enrolled, if she has brought up children, if she has practiced hospitality, if she has been prepared to render the most menial service to God’s people, if she has been in the habit of helping people in trouble, if good works of every kind have been the aim and object of her life” (1 Timothy 5:9, 10 William Barclay trans.).
As usual, I am challenged again. Are you?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell