How to fail

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me in this sinful and adulterous generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.
Mark 8:35-38

How can someone fail completely?

By simply doing what they want with their life. Even if they become the richest person on earth, they will lose everything the moment they die.

‘Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and those who find it are many’ Matthew 7:13.

No one can buy back their soul.

Everyone’s going to lose their souls – either by surrendering your soul to Christ, or by losing it at the end.

The only key question is whether or not a person is ashamed of Jesus. But the person who lays down their plans now, invests in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is making the point that however demanding it is to follow him, the alternative – doing life your way – will ultimately end with nothing.

It’s either the kingdom or nothing.

Ultimately we will either stand before him as our devoted Lord, or we will stand before him in shame because he will be ashamed of us.

Stories from the Kingdom

One of the sadnesses of my stage of life is to watch how the lives of those who have rejected Jesus are developing. I am now in the second part of my sixties, (the life expectancy tables state that people of my age should expect another nineteen years), and from time to time I meet people I haven’t seen for several decades. They have lived the bulk of their lives and are now enjoying retirement. Many of them are successful. They often have nice homes and enough money not to worry. We laugh and we talk about everything. Everything that is except one thing. One thing is always absent. In all the laughter and recounting stories from the past they never tell stories of the kingdom. They never speak and celebrate what the Spirit of the Lord is doing. There is never that delight and sense of wonder and celebration at what the Spirit is doing; never the question of 'have you heard what the Lord is doing at William’s church?' or 'Someone was telling me yesterday about how God is answering a prayer they’ve been praying for over five years!'

As Jesus said, ‘The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him’, John 14:17.

It’s so sad. But there’s still time for them to turn and follow Christ.