We Must Die

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

WE MUST DIE

Mark 8:34-38

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." 

NIV

It would seem like if we want to follow Jesus than we are all supposed to die. Well that is exactly what we are supposed to do, die to self. We are supposed to give up our own human ambitions, our own goals and desires; our own wants and things we think would be great to have. There is no doubt that the human condition exists of fulfilling the desires of our heart. From the very beginning all we want is what we want. We are taught to learn all we can so that we can grow up to be successful at whatever we choose to do with our life. We are told education is the pathway to success. We are told we must make something of our selves, so we can live the good life, so we can have a healthy self-esteem. We have been conditioned to look down at those who are not living successfully, who need public aid, which look to others to support them. We have been told that we should make as much as we can, store up are much as we can for our future years. It seems everything is about us. We celebrate every achievement of our lives, inviting all our friends to a party. They tell us how happy they are for us, how proud they are of us, that we did it, we made it, and we accomplished the goal. We have even been told that God helps those who help themselves if we express some sort of spiritual quality. But all that is completely wrong or at least it is completely worldly, completely human, without any concept of God at all. Jesus is telling us that we must die to all that and to take up our cross, make the walk to Calvary, nail our sins to it, dying to the human condition we have been living in, and then we will have eternal life, we will have a real life. Can we still be a doctor, lawyer, nurse, carpenter, laborer, candlestick maker, baker, business owner, factory worker, construction foreman, waste management specialist, salesman, or whatever we feel we should be doing? Sure, we have been told to go into the entire world, to live in every aspect, every endeavor of life, in order that we might bring the good news to those who are alive to self, but dead to Christ. We must be everyway in our culture, doing and working in every kind of field, giving one hundred and ten percent showing ourselves to be a productive member of the workforce, so that we are respected by those who we need to tell about Jesus. But our purpose for all our efforts is not for self but for the Kingdom of God. We have lost our lives, no we have given our lives and in doing so have gained Christ. If we pursue success for our own self, then we forfeit our real life in Christ. Everything we do must be about gaining Christ. We must die.