Lord, I will try to learn the lesson You have been teaching me all my Christian life—how to lose. The Christian life is the life of great losses. The natural man always wants to come in first; the true disciple of Jesus learns how to come in last.
Look how Jesus lost. He lost the confidence of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:3); He lost many disciples (John 6:66); He lost his dignity, respect, and clothing (Matthew 27:29, 35); and most important, He lost His life.
Look how Paul lost. “For [Christ’s] sake I have lost everything” (Philippians 3:8. Amp.). That “everything” included his life.
I will never amount to anything for Christ until I attend my own funeral. A disciple is like a house in a cyclone; every part gets blown away bit by bit until there is nothing left but the foundation. Then God builds a new structure. The trouble with me—and with most Christians—is that I want to live; I dislike dying. Paul said something profound about that: “Death works in us” (2 Corinthians 4:12). Lord, there have been many times when death did not work in me at all.
This is difficult to understand, Lord. I thought at first that the Christian life was verve, joy, vitality, victory, and an eternity of heavenly ecstasy. That is the way You treated me at first Then the stripping began. What a list! Friends, health, ambitions, loved ones, and even common, human desires. God’s plan for my life seems at times to be a story without a plot. God my Friend has often seemed to be God my enemy.
I am thankful for Him through whom all the promises of God are “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20). When I deliberately make my life a no for His sake. He responds by making it a victorious yes.
“And let the favor of the lord our God be upon us; and do confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17).
Daily with the King 