Scripture: Matthew 16:21-28
If you aren’t keeping score, it’s not worth playing. It’s keeping score that makes it fun.
What do you do more often, win or lose? Have you ever tried so hard to win something that you ended up losing more in the end? Maybe, you were playing a “fun” game of basketball in the driveway with some friends and your competitive nature made you “lose” more than your tempter. Sure, you did everything you could do to win the game, and you did, but you lost your cool and lost some trust from your friends by the way you played and acted. It’s in situations like these when we realize that winning is not the most important thing. There are bigger things going on than winning a driveway pick-up game.
The same can be true in life. If we are trying really hard to win all the time, we will end up losing more than we could ever imagine. If you always have to “win an argument,” you will probably lose a lot of relationships. If you always have to win at taking the best vacation of the year you will probably lose with disappointment. If you always have to have the most likes and comments on social media, you will probably soon lose your mind.
What if, in order to win, you’ve got to lose in some situations? This is what Jesus taught His disciples. They were hoping for a big win! They just declared the Messiah is here and with that their hopes of a Jewish state overcoming the Romans and their other enemies was in sight. But Jesus would teach them that this was not going to be the way they were going to win. He taught them, in order to win we’ve got to lose.
Of course, the disciples did not like this very much and Peter quickly told Jesus that this way of thinking was not going to be helpful. Jesus said to Peter, get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things from merely a human point of view, not from God’s.
We would be smart to learn from what Jesus taught His disciples that day. From a human point of view, death on a cross was the end. From God’s perspective it was the start of something brand new. From a human point of view, not getting your way is torture. From God’s perspective anything less than God’s way is worthless.
What are you holding onto in your life? Dreams? Hopes? Desires? Possessions? Relationships?
Jesus is saying trust me with those things. Allow yourself to open your hands and lose control of those things. And when you do, you will find life like never before! Do you trust me?
*Personal note – I would trust the guy that predicted his own death and resurrection and made it happen J.