Hard Choices
The Paradox

Scripture Reading: Matthew 10:34-39

Key Verse: Matthew 10:39

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Webster says a “paradox” is a self-contradictory statement that might be true! In our scripture today, Jesus states one of the greatest paradoxes in the Bible! He is basically saying that the person who focuses on self — seeking to find satisfaction of his personal desires — will end up losing. On the other hand, the person who forgets about himself and focuses on God, as well as others, will find the true fulfillment of life!

This is a hard concept to apply to our daily lives. We have a natural tendency to take care of ourselves first, others second. Our “Additional Reading” for today paints a clear picture of Jesus’ expectations for His followers. He tells us that our parents, brothers, and sisters (in other words, all our natural loves) must be secondary to our allegiance to Him. Surprisingly, life comes into focus when we operate with these priorities!

All the “hard teachings” that we will be looking into seem hard, but they all turn out to be to our advantage. After we have made the correct decisions, we find it wasn’t as hard as we thought. These hard teachings work so well that we forget about the discipline it took to make the decisions. So, today, focus on what God wants and how you can serve others. Don’t worry about your needs, God will do that. This will take great faith and discipline but will ultimately prove to you that Jesus was right: real life springs forth!

Father, I’ll make many decisions today. Please help me to make them based on you and the good of others. In Jesus’ Name, amen.