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Matthew 16:25 says, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

The early church knew what sacrificing their physical lives for the spiritual call of Christ was all about. Thousands suffered and died because they would not lie about what they knew or saw in their lives, yet this phenomenon of sacrifice is what built the true faith of Christ that lives yet today in the hearts and spirits of believers.

“Carnal Christianity” is basically living for the riches and pleasures of this world with little regard for sacrifice or self denial. Neither do we talk about self denial as some religious obligation or ritual. Self denial is simply preferring other’s needs and God’s commands before your self-gratification. It is not about how much you can make yourself suffer. That is “religion”. Without the purpose of love, self denial is simply self deceptive and false spirituality. The scripture is talking about denying self for a CAUSE, and that cause is following Jesus in all we do and say. His calling is now our calling in THIS world.

Many modern professing Christians are “holding on for dear life” to have their “best life now”… as some preachers are proclaiming. There is nothing Biblical about that pseudo Theology. On the other hand, there is nothing Biblical advocating poverty or futility in this world either. The Old Testament contains God’s plan and approach for wealth and prosperity…and it is mostly based on our working for it in conjunction with his calling and blessing and providing for our families. It is about the PURPOSE for our work and gathering riches. Are we controlled by our “blessings”, or are we cursed by them? Do we control our stuff or are we controlled by “it”? Are we willing to lose security for the sake of righteousness? What does money “mean” to us? It can’t buy us one more day on this earth nor can we “take it with us”.  Why do we worry so about accumulating and holding on to it?

I am at an age where many friends and relatives are suffering from severe physical ailments. Suffering has its purpose according to scriptures, but that is a whole other subject. The question for now is…does suffering mean we pursue every remedy, drug, or treatment known to man to prolong our lives even if it means the financial devastation of our families or the whole of our national GNP? Is it “Godly” to pump ourselves up with man-made chemicals and synthetic drugs to try and sustain our lives one more day, week, month, or year? I don’t have a clear answer for that question. I have known believers to be healed miraculously with no medical treatments, and I have seen people “cured” of cancers by heavy drugs even though sometimes those drugs have killed people in and of themselves.

To this point I have had  a blessed life with little sickness or pain, but as I enter my 70s I can sense my body declining in capability and I am doing all I can to fight naturally against inflammation, pain, and all the obvious toxicity that is increasingly in our food and water systems or even the air we breath. While I have learned there are many things we can naturally do to prolong our lives, there is nothing we can do to make our bodies live forever. Yet, if we truly understand the Gospel of Christ, we know that this life we now live is simply a whisper and a promise of the eternal life to come. If we believe that, why do we struggle so hard or spend our last dime trying to sustain our physical lives one day longer than it naturally wants to? Are we afraid to die? Personally, I am more afraid of living in pain and suffering or being a burden to my loved ones.

The Apostle Paul I believe had the best balance of doctrines on this subject. He said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul also covers the waterfront on what it means for the Christian to suffer in this life in Romans 8, and the key summary is at the end of that chapter when he proclaims, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

So, we live the best we can in this world under the weight of our sins, mistakes, regrets, and heartaches…yet when the Holy Spirit overtakes us, we can be released from all that weighs us down when we realize that NOTHING, not even physical death, can separate us from His love and eternal life. That is the great and main hope of our faith. Not what we do or experience in THIS life, but what we do in THIS life to affect where we are in the NEXT world we are destined to.

So let us take hope and confidence in the truth of God’s sovereignty over our lives. The scriptures are clear that “our days are numbered” (Psalm 90) and only He knows how many we have left. Our ONLY work is to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit as the Holy Spirit enables us. We plant seeds in this life that will mostly only be harvested in the next life. Be ready to let go of this one…for HIS sake and your eternity.