KJV - Luke 17:33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
NIV - Luke 17:33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
When we look at the context of the statement, Jesus is making a comparison between the life that we live in this world (the here and now) and that of eternity. Think of our lives as two bank accounts. One is used for immediate expenditures (bills, fun, clothes, cars etc) and the other is a long term savings account for retirement. If we give it NO thought, planning or effort to the retirement plan, we may have fun in the present, but the future is bleak and dreadful. However, with a little bit of planning and a small amount of sacrifice, we can enjoy this life and the life to come.
The real question is: Which is more important?
Remember, words are cheap. It is easy to say..Oh sure, eternity is more important. But our actions say more about what we believe than our words do. Jesus starts off by saying that if we seek to save (this) life we will lose the Next one. We do this by spending all of our time in effort pleasing ourselves and not putting any effort into serving God. The Bible describes Christianity as a service.
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Service by its very definition entails a bit of sacrifice. God requires that we make him first. Not just give him whatever we have left over from living our life to the fullest. If we do, then the second part of this verse applies.
Jesus say that whosoever will lose this live will preserve life for eternity. A small sacrifice in the here and now will pay huge dividends in the long run (eternity).
Reflecting His SON,
Dennis Hogan
Minister, North Hardin Church of Christ
1804 Sam Stewart Dr.
Radcliff, KY 40160
Questions, comments or further explanation? Contact me at: dennis.hogan@icloud.com
If you have friends, family, or acquaintances that you feel could benefit from RTS, please forward
their e-mail address to me and I will add them to my mail list.
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