John 12:25 “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

The easier our lives become, the bigger an issue this is. It would seem that the majority of people in the world today indeed love their lives. That is, they love and value their “creature comforts” above spiritual things, and that is where they invest their time and energy. It is important that Jesus said “in this world” when He spoke of hating life. He didn’t mean spending your time wanting to be dead, he meant having material comfort on the bottom of your priority list. This is the same usage of “hate” as in Luke 14:26, where He speaks of hating our family members. Taken wrongly, that is in violation of the rest of the whole Bible! We are very prone to put all sorts of things ahead of following and serving God, and Jesus said very clearly that such an attitude doesn’t cut it. A massive natural disaster like just happened in Northeastern Japan is a good reference point from a number of perspectives. None of us knows when we might lose everything, even physical life. If our values, our treasure, is in the material, then we indeed lose everything. However, if our hearts are indeed set on the eternal, then even if everything material is taken from us, we really lose nothing.

I enjoy “creature comforts” about as well as anyone, I think, and most of the time I genuinely enjoy life on this planet, which makes it imperative that I keep watch over my priorities. God delights to give good things to His children, and if our priorities are right, He promises to meet all our physical needs. (Matthew 6:33) However, priorities are the key point. I tend to get tied in knots over all sorts of things in this life, and that’s a good indication that I have plenty of room for growth. I have a particular difficulty with loving my time, resenting incursions on my anticipated schedule, and that is a real red flag, because life itself is measured in time. I need to be faithful at all times in releasing my time to God, allowing Him to use it as He pleases and rejecting all temptations to resentment. Resentment accomplishes nothing constructive!

Father, thank You for pointing out to me that I need to keep a loose hold on everything, even these morning times with You. I am deeply grateful to be able to meet with You morning by morning, yet there is the danger of valuing the activity more than I value obedience to You. I have a loose schedule today, but a lot of things to be done in it. Help me be focused on You so that I will be doing the right thing at the right time, and not be resentful when it isn’t what I expected to be doing at that time. Help me indeed love You more than life, so that all of Your purposes may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!