Saturday, August 25, 2012

Risky Business

Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. - Luke 9:24

As the worldwide financial crisis deepened in 2010, executives of a global banking firm were investigated for deceiving their customers about the risk involved in certain investments they were selling. While promising a high rate of return, the banking firm knew that the investments were destined to fail, leaving those who purchased them with nothing.

Deceptions is nothing new. Jesus described Satan as one who "does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him... for he is a liar and the father of it". The enemy of our souls tells us, "Live only for the present," when he knows it will results in our eternal loss.

Jesus, on the other hand, did not offer His disciples a life of prosperity and ease but called them to self-sacrifice and identification with Him. After telling them that He would be killed and raised from the dead, Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it".

There are two voices telling us where to invest our lives. It's risky business to follow the wrong one.

When you hear the Shepherd's voice
As He calls you, "Come to Me,"
In your life make Him your choice
And His faithful follower be. 

If we hold on to God's truth, we won't be trapped by Satan's lies. 

Luke 9:18-27

Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; other say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "God's Messiah."

Jesus strictly warned them not to tell to anyone. And he said "The Son of Man must offer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.

"Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

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