“Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep
if for eternity.” John 12:25
Transliterated
from the Greek this scripture reads: “The being fond (the) soul of
–him Shall –Be destroying it (her) and The one –Hating The Soul of him IN THE SYSTEM (World) this into LIFE
eonian Shall BE Guarding her (it)”
“LIFE” = “SOUL”
In John 12:27 Yeshua said:
“Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray Father, save me from this hour? But this is the
very reason I came! Father bring glory to your name.”
Yeshua understood that His life
(or soul ) was not in existence, primarily, for his pleasure or his own purposes, but for the purposes and the Glory of the
Father who sent him.
Your
“life” is equivalent to your “soul”…your will, who you are, your personality, your individuality;
your heart, whoever you are as an individual… it is that person you were born
as, including your talents, gifts, and God given abilities. It is the part of you that cannot be destroyed by man
(Matthew 10:28) Yeshua says, as He’s sending the disciples out to bring the Good News of the Kingdom
to the lost sheep of Israel:
“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear
only God, who can destroy both soul and body in (hell).
Is
there anything wrong, or evil with who the Father has created us to be on earth? No…as long as we don’t
get it twisted. In other words, we may have our gifts, talents, and personal desires but what we want to do with them are
never to supersede the plan of the Father… We have to keep things in perspective!
Because we are made in the image of God, in His likeness, with free
will and able to reason, we have a knack for wanting to go our own way and do our own thing. See, we have all these abilities
and know-how, but if we don’t know and seek - or consult the Father about what to do with what HE's put in us,
we will use them how we want and end up on the wrong road…finding pleasure and glory strictly for ourselves, not bringing
pleasure or Glory to our Father. We may even appear to have great success and still be out of the “will” of God
for our lives. And, we probably all know that if we live a life continually bringing pleasure to ourselves, constantly seeking
to satisfy what we want, it will end in destructive behavior, and if not for the mercy and grace of God, could possibly lead
to eternal destruction.
Yeshua says,
in Matthew 10:38-39
“If
you refuse to take up your cross (execution stake) and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life,
you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me (my purposes, my will) you will find it.”
In other words, if we decide that we’d rather do our own thing by prospering or living it up in this world’s
system (which is ruled by the Adversary); seek own way, satisfy our earthly, temporary fleshy desires with pleasures that
are totally confined to this “realm, or this “vapor,” we are guaranteed to lose our lives
or souls eternally.
Clinging to or having
a hold on the things of this world, temporal things that we see in the natural is the evidence that we’re
“clinging” to our life or our “soul” and the carnal desires of it.
But when we are willing to let it go for His purposes… we will really know
and see the true purpose for being here on earth.
In
Mark 8:36-37 Yeshua says:
“What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?"
Is anything
in this cosmos worth more than your soul? Anything????
Nothing, absolutely nothing in this world (system) is worth dying eternally for. This present reality
will only last for a moment.
Have you ever longed for something so bad, then you get it, and it doesn’t quite hit the spot?
It does not fulfill the “desire” you thought it would fulfill. There are things that look so appealing
to us… if we could just do this or that, we would be satisfied; or if we could just have this or that, that would do
it; or if we could just go there…then it would be all good...my "life” would be great. But when it’s
all said and done, after we’ve gotten all of the carnal things we think we really want…we will find that none
of the things or worldly pleasures that our flesh seeks can bring satisfaction to our souls.
I John 2:15-17 says:
“Do not love the world nor the things of the
world, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for
physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the
Father but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But
anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” I John 2: 15-17
Will
we love our lives so much, chasing the pleasures of this world that we’re willing to lose our lives or our souls ? Are
we willing to lay down our lives and trust our Father with them; understanding that we have purpose in Him? After all it is
Him who has made us and not we ourselves (Psalm 100:3).
In Luke 8:14, in the parable of the soils, Yeshua
says “the seeds that fell among thorns represent those who hear the message,
but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life…and so they never grow into maturity.”
We
must take notice that in this parable Yeshua is teaching about people who are actually “hearing”
the Word! Moreover, the Word and the instructions of the Lord are actually penetrating their hearts! But
there is so much more of the other stuff (all that is in the world) that’s in their hearts
that it over-shadows the Word or cancels out what’s really of importance! Saint of God, this is serious!
Those of us in the LORD take pleasure
in the doing the will of our Father above Anything else. We “delight” ourselves in the LORD and what’s amazing
is (according to Psalm 37:4) He says that when we do that, having our focus right, He will give us the desires of our heart.
And those who delight in the LORD, will have a heart's desire that is right…not perverse.
We know that Yeshua is the Son of God and as He walked
the earth ALL that the Father is, was in Him but He was just as human. He made the ultimate sacrifice
any human can make for another... and that is to die. And in his humanness, it was not an easy thing for Him to suffer and
die so horrifically. How do we know?
Luke
22:42 –“Father, if you are willing please take this cup of suffering from me. Yet, I
want your will to be done, not mine.” He
told the disciples in John 12:27 “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should
I pray, Father save me from this hour? But this is the very reason I came! Father bring glory to your name.
Though Our Savior's affliction would not be "light"
nor easy, He never lost sight of why He was sent here. He did not love His earthly name nor fame! He did not love his
own life…even to the point of death. He was willing to die. And we have proof! We now live and have the Holy
Spirit because of our Messiah submitting to the will of our Father and laying down his life for us!
Abiding in the Vine, who is Yeshua the Messiah, we must remain cognizant,
as we seek the face of the Father, that this life is not our own and our purpose is to do His will. In this we find complete
pleasure and satisfaction…as our pleasure will be in pleasing God...just like our Savior. And just like Yeshua, we
will be named among those that loved not our lives...unto the death.
