Week 14: The Ultimate Paradox

This week's reading takes us into deep and rich spiritual water. It unfolds like this:

*Sunday: 1 Corinthians 11-12
*Monday: Exodus 1-4
*Tuesday: 1 Samuel 16-20
*Wednesday: Psalms 39-41
*Thursday: Job 27-28
*Friday: Jeremiah 7-11
*Saturday: Mark 7-8

We learn in 1 Corinthians that though we are many and diverse, we are called and gifted by the Holy Spirit to form one body, the church.

In Exodus we see God calling a reluctant Moses into a ministry of deliverance that would forever change the world.

In 1 Samuel we see the prophet anointing David, who appears to be the most unlikely of candidates to serve as Israel's next king. And in the Psalms we read the writings of a spiritually mature David, and realize why he was God's choice.

In Job we see the most righteous of all human beings alive at that time enduring the most strenuous of suffering.

In Jeremiah we see people who know what's right refusing to do what's right.

In Mark we hear Jesus telling us that the road to the cross is the way to life.

In other words, we are presented in this week's readings with several stunning paradoxes:

*Unity is realized amid diversity
*Fear and reluctance precede heroism and victory
*The most insignificant people in the eyes of human beings are the greatest in God's
*The most upright of God's people endure the grimmest of suffering
*There's often a disconnect between knowing truth and living truth

These are all challenging paradoxes to be sure, but the ultimate paradox occurs in our reading from Mark...

*Whoever loses their life gains it, but whoever gains it loses it

Scripture
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" (Mark 8:34-36).

Observation
This is nothing less than revolutionary teaching! It makes no earthly sense. Our world teaches us to watch out for number one, to seize the day, to be the masters of our destinies. In a word, we are taught to "gain the whole world" (or whatever part of it we can).

The way of Jesus is counterintuitive...paradoxical. It's not the way we naturally lean. To obey this teaching, we have to act in a manner contrary to every self-preserving, self-promoting, self-aggrandizing instinct.

Application
This teaching should give each of us a spiritual gut check. Am I living for Christ or am I living for myself? Am I seeking to magnify the name of Christ with my life or am I trying to make a name for myself (to try and do both is to work at cross purposes with the gospel!)? Am I taking up the cross of submission or the crest of success?

Prayer
Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
even those who seem secure.
Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom;
in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth
without knowing whose it will finally be.
But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you. (Psalm 39:4-7)

Have a blessed week!

Faithfully,
Chuck