In Return For Your Life

For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?”

~Mark 8:36-37

Living fully and faithfully in the Spirit leads, unfailingly, to transformation. We cannot keep living our lives as is, gaining what the world offers us without giving over, well, everything. That is a pretty consistent biblical message, one that we might try to avoid. Or, it can seem impossible to surrender everything to God, so we don’t even try. Yet the call and the invitation remain. So how do you respond?

What things of this world – this country – this economic system we call capitalism – what of this will you walk away from in order to walk toward the Life that God offers?

This is a hard one for me. There is so much about my life that I love. So much that I would dearly miss if it weren’t part of my life. A home. Financial resources and stability. My beloved husband. The ability to eat out regularly. Seriously! Sometimes it’s the seemingly little things that I cling to with the strongest grip. And these apparently small things can be the biggest blocks in our relationship with God within community.

With God, consider the following queries:

What do you cling to?

What is God asking you to release?

What is your response to this invitation into sacrifice?

What is one thing that stunts your relationship with God that you can begin to lay down this day?

What will you give in return for your life?