Laying Down Our Lives and Receiving Them Back

Readings:
I Kings 14
John 10:14-21

Focus:
John 10:17:"The Father loves me because I lay down my life, to receive it back again."

Jesus laid down his life, of his own will, in order to save us. He did it of his own volition. We also can give our entire lives to him. Jeroboam, king of Israel, took the easy way, and allowed his subjects to worship other gods so that their loyalty to him would not be distracted. The result for Jeroboam was death of his son, and ultimately the destruction of his family's rule of Israel. But when we give our lives to God, like Jesus, we receive them back again. Not, of course, in the same way that Jesus did; our giving up of ourselves does not result in the eternal salvation of others. But in God's economy, as my husband calls it, the more we give, the more we receive, and what we receive is so much better than what we might have gotten had we been merely looking out for ourselves. It's the best pattern to follow.