Life/Death

Life and Death. The two eternal inevitables. Anything that lives, is most certain to die. And anything that has died has most certainly lived. Prior to His crucifixion, when Jesus spoke about life and death, it was always in very paradoxical terms. "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses His life for my sake will find it." I can just picture the disciples now, looking at each other with raised eyebrows and facial expressions that asked, "Huh?" But the truth of the matter is, when we are called to serve Christ, we are called to our own crucifixion. "Come, follow me." And again, "...Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." The truth is, if we want to live, we just have to die. We have to die to self. But I think for many of us, the hard part is understanding that we aren't just asked to die when we are wrong and to things that are sinful...sometimes, okay, many times we have to die when we are right... Oh my. Sometimes we have to submit in humility to that impossible and immature boss. Sometimes, we have to love and forgive, and cooperate with that co-worker who ruthlessly stabbed us in the back for no good reason. Sometimes we have to be kind to the one who wants to make us the target for their internal anger... Jesus, perfect and sinless chose death, that we might live. Us, the angry mob. The ones who spit on Him. The ones who mocked Him. The ones who pierced him. Are you ready for your crucifixion? Your very personal invitation is engraved in the palms of His hands.