Four Fors

After calling people to follow him, Jesus explained the results that would follow if they did. There are four "fors" in these promises. For whoever...For what...For what...and for whoever. It's language that helps us see a connection to the call to discipleship. If we deny ourselves and carry out the assignments Christ has given to us, then this is what we can expect to happen.

Promise 1: You Will Find Your Life

"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)

This is a surprising element of Jesus' call. When you lose your life for Jesus, you actually save it. You find your life when you lose it -- a total paradox.

Life cannot be found by grasping for it, fighting for the self, or trying to get yours. So, though people trade in spouses for a newer version, bite and devour to greedily amass more for themselves, and spend hours doting on themselves, life cannot be found that way. The second you try to find your life and put yourself on the throne, you lose your life. It slips through your fingers.

But the believers in Acts formed a new community and paved a new way of Jesus-living. They communed with one another. They made relationships with other believers a major priority. They gave and sacrificed for one another. They shared Jesus with their cities. They stayed committed to lives of righteousness. They obeyed Jesus' call for their individual lives. And they found life.

Promise 2: You Will Keep Your Soul

"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? " (Mark 8:36-37)

Too often, we forget we are comprised of more than our bodies. Our bodies are very much who we are, and what we do with them helps shape our inner person. But we are more than the outward person. We have souls.

And there is no gain, according to Jesus, in gaining the whole world, yet losing our souls. To lose your soul is equivalent to wasting your life, looking back, and realizing you spent it all on the wrong things. Even gaining the whole world is not worth the forfeiture of your soul.

But people neglect and devalue their souls all the time, tossing them aside for the pursuit of passions, possessions, or power. And you can get those things, but your soul is gone. You are no longer you, but an amalgam of other people's priorities and desires. You are lost. Your soul is gone.

But the person who obeys Jesus and makes life about pursuing his will for their lives finds the flourishing of their soul. Their soul flies!

Promise 3: You Will Enter Glory

"For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38)

Finally, we come to the last promise. Jesus states it in the negative. There are those who cannot abide by the disciple's life, those who are ashamed of Jesus and especially ashamed of his words. When Jesus returns in glory, he will be ashamed of them. They will not be part of his future glory.

But it is all too easy to be ashamed of Jesus. There are obviously things about his life that are palatable to anyone -- his love and grace and mercy and healing -- but the fact he died on the cross for our sin is repulsive to so many. And Jesus spoke words of judgment and righteousness which many in our generation hate. But, the disciple who has denied the self and taken up their cross, loves Jesus' life and words.

We build our lives upon the life of Christ and the word of Christ.

And, one day, we will discover just how worth it was to make him our priority.