Thursday, August 8, 2013

Thursday Thoughts 1

"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?" (Luke 9:24-25, NIV)

Jesus presents his disciples with a curveball. A person who lives for themselves has chosen a path that results in death; but, a person who sacrifices their own path for God's path will gain life. Then, he follows with a beautiful common sense question that cuts to the heart of the matter.  

When two roads diverge man must choose. That means man must give up one opportunity for another. Economists call the foregone road the "opportunity cost". As a Christian I want to choose God's path; but, the alternate path seems so attractive sometimes. 

How do we come to the point in our faith where Paul was at in his letter to the Philippians? In particular, I mean when he wrote,

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:8, NIV)

From personal experience my best guess is that when Paul magnified God other things paled in comparison. We magnify God in our lives when we worship Him and take actions that are in accordance with obedience, humility, and love. This leads me to wonder how other actions might alter our opportunity cost. How do spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, confession, etc. alter our opportunity cost (perception about the cost of what we're giving up compared to God's path)?   

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