Joyful Death

   We have this song at my church that has a line which says, “It’s my joy to lose my life, and find it in Jesus Christ.” It’s a pretty line, quite poetic that conjures up romantic imagery of flinging my life away to prove my devotion to Jesus. Ok maybe it’s just me that thinks that dramatically. But it did get me to ask the question of how can it be joyful to lose my life? Think about it, it’s an antithesis really, I’m saying I’ll be happy to die for Jesus. Well I guess if I had to I would be able to be a martyr but it’s not really something I’m actively looking forward to! But is that what God is really asking of us, to get prepared to die?

   “The Father has an intense love for me because I freely give my own life-to raise it up again. I surrender my own life, and no one has the power to take my life from me. I have the authority to lay it down and the power to take it back again. This is the destiny my Father has set before me” John 10:17-18 (TPT). Obviously, Jesus is talking here about His upcoming death and resurrection; but this is also what we do when we get saved. No, we don’t literally die, but we claim to become “dead” to sin and alive in Christ. What if that is the life-losing that God is asking of us? Maybe He is not requiring us to do these huge “deaths” at all; maybe He is simply wanting us to lay down our life, our past, sins, our ideas of the right life, trying to live the correct Christianese way. He wants us to lay all that down and take up our true lives as children of the Living King.

   When I left Phoenix I was upending my life; I was entering into a new life with God complete with a physical address change and whole new life. “Losing” my life, for me, was ending everything I was doing and where I lived to get to where I knew I could begin my life with God. Not every person has quite a literal story; but when you commit to God something begins to change. The old ways of doing things don’t work anymore, God is giving you a new life but you have to lose the old one. I’m not saying this is something we do once and poof, all problems are solved. This is a whole life-long journey, remember it’s a relationship with God, not a one-time conversation. I think losing my old me was the easiest part; finding the my new life in Christ is where the real work begins. Many times I don’t think the devil is tempting me or my past is sneaking up on me so much as I’m just unsure of how to be a daughter of the King. That’s what the rest of our life essentially is, learning to walk with power and authority that is legitimately ours because of our relationship to Father-God.

   This is why it’s joy to lose our lives! I’m not dying so much as discarding my life that wasn’t working to begin with. Remembering the rush of freedom I felt when I finally gave up and asked God to take my life, it was like I could breathe again. And what do we lose really? Addictions, shame, pain, bitterness, etc., all the things that try to choke our lives; we never wanted them to begin with, so it’s no loss to let them die. What we gain is everything. Adoption into royalty is great; but the best part is a relationship with God that is neverending, and He’s here now in every part of our lives forever.