“Our Daily Bread” http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie http://www.harvest.org/devotional

“Homily Grits Devotional” http://www.homilygrits.com/

Written by the wise 84 yr old Robert VanHoose, who writes the “Homily Grits Devotional” above @ http://www.homilygrits.com/

Dec 17

Read John 12:23-28,

Job 4

“Too Much to Lose”

“What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for” Mark 8:36 MSG

The whole idea of dying to self in order to become alive in Christ is all about losing in order to win. No one can do it except by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The rich young ruler had too much wealth to lose. For most people, they have too much pride to surrender before they can become born again.

When we think about the cost of discipleship, we too often think about giving up instead of growing up.

To become a disciple, we must give up self control to Spirit control. This means giving up our bondage to lust, pride, anger, envy, gluttony, and other sins, and growing up in Christ.

As we grow up in Christ, we receive more and more grace to become more and more like Him in the way we think and the way we live.

As the Holy Spirit fills us with the fruit of the Spirit, we begin bearing this fruit of righteousness in every area of our life.

The “me” “me” “me” of the flesh is lost to the “we” “we” “we” of the Spirit when we become one with Christ.

We will be living in friendship with Him and thinking His thoughts with a new attitude and understanding as a result of our holy transformation and the renewing of our minds.

Jesus did not come to make us lose anything worthwhile, He came to show us the way, the truth, and the life of peace and joy forever that can only be gained by losing.

We should never allow ourselves to be deceived by thinking we have too much to lose by following Jesus.

Father, thank You for helping me to lose my bondage of the flesh so that I might find Your peace and joy through faith in Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap?

Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end?”

Job 4:4 MSG