May 25, 2023

The Path to Life

37 minutes

The Second Mile can be summed up fairly simply: Whatever is unfairly required, demanded, or taken—joyfully give even more. That’s the spiritual secret to lifelong freedom, the secret to breaking the power of injustice, the secret to living above the fray of unfairness. Super simple.

Also, it seems, totally backwards.

But isn’t that exactly how Jesus’ kingdom is? Jesus came to give what everyone desires: life.

But, strangely enough, this life comes at a cost—death.

His death brought eternal life, and we also find life by losing ours. No less than six times throughout the gospels we see Jesus presenting this surprising path to life:

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:39).

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 16:25).

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it (Mark 8:35).

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it (Luke 9:24).

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it (Luke 17:33).

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (John 12:25).

If there was ever a repeated theme in all four gospels, this is it! He’s reminding us again and again that this new life he’s giving isn’t found through a few small behavior modifications. Jesus knows that we’ll never be truly free as long as we’re content to tinker around with our inner person, tweaking this or that, busying ourselves with small adjustments while keeping him at arm’s length. His outrageous claims demand our absolute attention and an honest self-evaluation: Am I willing to die in order to live?

Join along for an honest conversation about this surprising path to life in Episode 3… here

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By Kari Patterson