08.26.2020 Devotional
In the kingdom of God the way to life goes through death.
Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
The kingdom of God seems to be a kind of bizarro world. Whoever is concerned to secure their own life, will lose it. But the one that actually loses his own life, is the one that finds it.
A seeker once gave a report of his quest. First, I tried to find myself, but I never succeeded. Then I sought God, but I did not find God. Finally, I pursued the good of my neighbor, and then I found all three; myself, God and love of my neighbor. Many people have experienced that when they did everything, they could to be happy, they could never find happiness. But when they tried to make others happy, there they found true joy.
Love of neighbor has perhaps been most beautifully expressed in the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light and where there is sadness, joy.
O Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled but to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that I receive
It is in pardoning that I am pardoned;
And it is in dying that I am born to eternal life. Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Denise
