Lose yourself

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? For I, the Son of Man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds. And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see me, the Son of Man, coming in my Kingdom." Matthew 16: 24-28

How do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Really, how? Are we really that ignorant and naive to really think that whatever we have in our lives are our own and of our own doing? That we came into this world with nothing but leave with everything? We WILL leave with NOTHING, just as we came.

It's a difficult thing to swallow. It's a difficult calling to answer to. Wait...is it really? Or is it because the word of men and the desires of the earth make it difficult to let go of whatever we've been stereotyped and programmed to know and think? Do we fear losing ourselves? Is giving up our lives today to follow the path Jesus did actually following a poorer life? Or is it poorer simply cause we view riches by human yardsticks? Do we even know what true riches are? Or feel like?

Why do things like everyone does? Do what everyone else does, and succumb to 'that's just the way life is', 'when you can't beat them, join them', 'the dog eat dog way of life', 'the bring someone else down so we can step up' way of life? Why? Because it's easier? Or is it because us humans generally need to feel accepted by others? Or it's the easier thing to do, be like others? It's easy to fall into temptation.

I am no hypocrite. I'm not there, where I want to be. But every single day, I do my best to get an inch closer to 'there'. Many ask me till this day why I gave up so much of what I used to believe in to do what I do today. Among my answers are in that passage of scripture above.

Amen :)