HE WHO DIES WILL LIVE

JOHN 12:20–26

“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life”

(John 12:25).

In this response to the Greeks, Jesus gives a message of hope along with a sober warning: those who are willing to give up everything for Christ will have eternal life. But those who disregard His offer of salvation, who choose the things of this world instead of the way of Christ, will find only death: “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” When it comes to eternity, we cannot have it both ways: we cannot have the world and Christ.

This was a doctrine that Jesus greatly insisted upon: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.… And he who does not take his cross and follow Me, is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 10:37–39); “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me.… For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matt. 16:24–26); “… For whosoever will be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed” (Luke 9:26); and lastly, “Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whosoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:32–33).

Lot’s wife made a terrible choice. That quick glance toward Sodom betrayed her heart—that she loved the world more than God. The Lord told her not to look back, but she was so attached to the fading beauty of this world that she could not keep her eyes fixed on God. In her folly and to her shame, she loved a perishing city, and in doing so she signed her own death warrant.

Is there anything you love more than Christ? Do you love your sin more than Christ’s holiness? Do you love your entertainments, your friends, your romance with the world more than your Creator? If so, Jesus’ teaching is plain: “whosoever loves his life will lose it.” Love Christ and live. Do not cling to a perishing world. We are strangers here until the day when we will be taken to glory. When that day arrives, may we find our eyes fixed on Christ and our hearts turned from a world that can give us nothing but death and despair.

CORAM DEO

Psalm 41–43

Acts 24

Read through the passages listed in today’s study. Think about what Christ is teaching and how it pertains to your life in particular. Confess, in detail, things that you might be clinging to. Ask God to give you more love for Him, so that you won’t be so attached to a world that will one day perish.

For further study: Ps. 119:9–19

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