Scripture Reading: Luke 18:18-30

What a Waste!

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35)

Americans are desperately in pursuit of life without pain. Our frenzied search for relief from any discomfort causes us to spend billions of dollars on medication, entertainment, recreation, sports, and hobbies. Whether our desire is to avoid financial pain, physical pain, relational pain or existential pain, we want above all else to live free of anything that makes uncomfortable. But Jesus came to save us from our sins, not from our aches and pains. And often he wants to use the pain in our lives to advance his ultimate purposes in redemption. Only in heaven will we finally live without pain.

Jesus promised us that in this world we would have tribulation (John 16:33). He assured us that those who followed him would have to deny themselves and take up their crosses every day (Luke 9:23). Paul was equally emphatic stating that it is through many tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 4:22) and all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). It is only as we understand the true purposes of God in redemption that we begin to see how mistaken people are today who spend their lives seeking ease and comfort and freedom from pain. In fact, if the American Dream is understood in terms of health, wealth and happiness, we begin to see that the Gospel promises something radically different!

In his book Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper, pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, tells the story of two elderly missionary ladies who died in a tragic automobile accident in Cameroon in the year 2000. Many lamented what a “tragedy” it was to die in such circumstances. Piper, however, say the situation very differently.

No, that is not the tragedy. That is a glory. These lives were not wasted. And these lives were not lost. “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it (Mark 8:35). I will tell you a story from the February of 1998 edition of Readers Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life — your one and only precious, God-given life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.

Are you in danger of wasting your life? Don’t squander your life in seeking freedom from pain; rather, invest your life in the kingdom of God.

    Only one life, twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last. — C.T. Studd

Point to ponder: Jesus came to save us from our sins, not from our pains and difficulties.

Prayer focus: Someone you know who is collecting sea shells.