Ecclesiastes 3:6 …A time to lose…
Last week we studied "a time to get” and today we are going to study the opposite a time to lose. Every time this week I looked at this study, a song keeps coming to mind. I am not proud to say this, but it is Eminem’s "Lose Yourself”. Kind of wondering maybe there is something to this. Last week we focused on getting the things of God in many situations. Getting His wisdom, knowledge, even things we are tasked to do. So, we can maybe be as simple as losing the things in our life that do not pertain to God. Losing the things that draw us away from God.
1 Timothy 6:20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,
2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his,” and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
Matthew 10:39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
I think you can now see why that song always came to me. That verse in Matthew, Jesus is talking to His disciples. He is saying you cannot live for yourself, but must live for Him, Jesus. That means turning away from things of this world and focusing and putting our effort into things of God. The Bible tells us we are no longer of this world.
John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Luke 9:25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
We can easily say that according to God, we need to "lose ourself”, lose our worldly ways, turn away from the world. This week I am not going to go on and on. But I want us to really focus on the scriptures above. I know I often find myself holding on to worldly things. We must make it a point to lose ourself and our flesh for Christ’s sake.
COMMENTS
[ posted by Cindy, 07/22/2024 03:04 PM ]
Lose. Defined as being deprived of, defeat, cease, unable to find. So ''to lose' would be the action of losing something.We can lose all kinds of things, just like last week we studied all the things we can get. We lose car keys, we lose jobs, we lose friends we lose paperwork...lots of stuff we lose. I like how Mike went straight to a spiritual sense of to lose. That is something we certainly do not want to lose. After all, all this worldly stuff will not matter in the end. It's the spiritual gain or loss that determines our eternity. Sometimes when we lose something we can't see the big picture of why. Most of us probably don't see some blessing for what they really are. Some of us have probably missed out on blessings. Loss and pain make us grateful. Or it should. Life and every part of it should be considered a blessing. We need to focus on what we need to lose. Lose things that distract us from our relationship with Jesus, lose ungodly behaviors and thoughts that may tempt you to sin, lose surroundings and atmospheres that don't align with your beliefs in God and don't promote those beliefs. James 4:10 " Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Ephesians 6:11 " Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles if the devil." 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walk-through about, seeking to whom he may devour." So those verses alone should urge you 'to lose' the things that can cause you to lose yourself and your faith. Lose the things that push you further away God and Jesus.