Jesus’ words sometimes seem counter-intuitive. How exactly does being last make me first? I’ve heard a pastor refer to promises like this as following “Kingdom logic.” They don’t make much sense to us… until we try them out.

This devotional by Jang Ho Park at Today dives into Jesus’ paradoxical words in Luke 9:24: ““Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” Adopting this selfless attitude, the devotional explains, is something we need to practice daily:

Christ opened the way to life through death on a cross. Not obsessed to save his own life, he became the source of life to all who trust in him. Now this same principle takes on meaning for Jesus’ followers.

As disciples of Christ, we should train every day to give of ourselves in service to our community. This means throwing away selfishness and personal ego to live a humble life of self-denial that serves others.

What kinds of efforts and sacrifices are we making as Jesus’ disciples? Jesus says we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow him. We must be true disciples who face up to the challenges of living for Christ each day in this world, setting aside our own comforts and desires to reach out to others for the sake of God’s kingdom.

Read the entire devotional at thisistoday.org

Have you ever seen selflessness lead to life? What can you do today to set aside your “own comforts and desires to reach out to others for the sake of God’s kingdom?”

By: Chris. This entry was posted on Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 9:38 am and is filed under Devotional, Jesus, Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.