"WE BRING THE SACRIFICE OF PRAISE"

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."(NIV) The Message, crafted to present the ideas in everyday language, describes Jesus' words as, "Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self."

If this present life is your focus, then you'll miss out on so much. You'll be absorbed in yourself and your daily, weekly, even monthly activities. You'll be somewhat at least Hedonistic, living only for your own pleasure. If you take no risks, no chances for Jesus; that is, if you play it safe and seek pleasure and acceptance of men, then you are sacrificing the hereafter for now. The spiritual for the material. But if you're living for Jesus, you're serving others, loving others as we are told to do.

In baseball there's a pitching category called holds. Middle relievers, not closers, strive for the hold which means when they came into the game, their team was winning. When they finished their allotted inning(s) of pitching, their team was still ahead because the pitcher held the lead. Thus, he earned a hold. It's easy to hold on to this world. There are tons of attractions and distractions.

Sometime we have to lose (this world) and let go in order to achieve the victory for Jesus. And, to me, that's what Luke 9: 24 means. I'm trying to be a loser.