24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matt.16:24-26
People are self centered by nature. First as babies, with themselves as the center of their worlds, where everything has to be done for them, then developing into children then onward to adolescents, then finally adulthood... Usually having themselves as the center of what everything revolves around, including their concept of God and the relationship to Him generated as a result.
But as disciples of Jesus, the Lord tells us to deny ourselves, and not to strive to accumulate a pile of stuff, to try and gain the whole world, - idols- that will be worthless in Heaven, and sometimes with a price tag of our very souls.
It's not about us, although we often want to make it about us ... it's about Him. We are just the clay, He is the potter. Real victory comes through total unconditional surrender to the Lord when we lay it all down - ourselves and all the stuff we may to clinging to.
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