Your “Self”

Your “Self”

“For what advantage is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” Luke 9:25.

What gain is it if you are yourself in all the things of this world? A person has a body that can enjoy these things for only a short time; then he loses his self forever. Even if he has become famous in this world, his fame only lasts as long as his body remains healthy.

Just as a person in the world matures and becomes fully developed in the strength of his self, so we can develop to become fully mature people in Christ. If we lose our life—the life whose goal is to enjoy the things in this world—we will find our life in Christ. This life will be clothed with a glorified body that can enjoy the heavenly things for all eternity.

A boat that is being built is only itself to the degree that it conforms to the blueprints. Once it has been completed it is entirely itself.

Only when the trumpet sounds and the saints are caught up to be always with the Lord will they be themselves as they will be for all eternity. Just think of the glory of being fully molded by our heavenly Master so that we fit into the heavenly world in eternal fellowship with the Father, the Son, and all the saints in eternal and glorified joy!

If we understand this, we will also understand the reason behind suffering, enduring, and forbearing with joy. We feel more and more at home, and we are ourselves in all the virtues of Christ—the virtues that were so foreign to us in the beginning.

We don’t partake of these virtues cheaply. We have to lose our life in this world in order to find life. If we don’t, we will lose ourselves and will suffer eternal loss.