Verse of the Day 1/10

Luke 17:33 (AMP)  Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve and quicken it.

 

I read this verse in preparing for our men's small group meeting which dealt with the previous passages in the chapter.  I read this verse and then read it in several different translations.  Read it from The Message:  "If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms."

 

How much of our time or that of the "average person" spent clinging to life on our own terms being dissatisfied or at least hoping for better results, it all the while?  It is a natural desire to live life "my way" but where does that lead us?  I like the words from the Amplified Bible which says that those who give their lives over to him will actually preserve and "quicken" their lives. 

 

We don't often use the word "quicken" today.  Merriam - Webster defines it as "to make alive:revive; to cause to be enlivened: stimulate. It definitely fits with the thoughts in the verse.

 

Thinking of "my way" versus "God's way" I couldn't help but think of the word's to the Frank Sinatra song "My Way".  For me the last stanza would be haunting.

 

For what is a man, what has he got,

If not himself, then he has naught,

To say the words he truly feels,

And not the words of one who kneels,

The record shows, I took the blows,

And did it my way.

 

To me, they sound like the words of a stubborn fool who doesn't realize that he did bow down, but not to the one who could truly give him life, satisfaction, and joy.  I'll be one who kneels before God.  I read the following in Psalm 95 this morning.

 

Psalm 95:6-7(NLT)  Come, let us worship and bow down.
      Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
    ⁷ for he is our God.
   We are the people he watches over,
      the flock under his care.

 

I'd rather be part of the flock, under His care, than one who would stand on their own before Him on the last day saying, I chose to do it my way.  What will be in store for him?

 

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

Luke 17:33 If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms.  - The Message