The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: Matthew 10:21-39 / Psalm 106

“Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Matthew 10:39

Losing Life to Find It

To know Jesus is to know true peace of mind and joy in our hearts through the forgiveness He earned for us on the cross. No greater treasure could come to us, for in Christ’s forgiveness we also have the assurance of eternal life.
However, to know Jesus Christ and to follow Him means to know the bitter opposition of those who hate the Savior and His followers. These enemies are commonly summed up as the devil, the world, and our flesh. These make the going hard for the Christian. As Christians, we must fight them off every bit of the way to heaven. At times, we may grow weary of the struggle. We see others taking the broad and easy way, and we are tempted to that way also.
Christ encourages us to follow Him, rather than take the way to eternal destruction. If need be, we should be willing to lose, to spend, to devote totally our lives in the process of living for Him. Even if we do actually lose our lives for Him, we will have lost nothing that we will not lose anyway. What will we gain? We receive the fullness of life in Him and the satisfaction that goes with it; we receive life eternal.
St. John writes, “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” [1st John 5:11].

Lord Jesus Christ, who has given His life for me; let me ever be willing to give my life for You. Amen.

May 18, 1978