Found

Last week we talked about the demonic side of mental health.  We learned we have an enemy that wishes us ill will and the lostness of our connection with God.  Theologically this is represented by the King James term "unclean spirit," which is the demonic realm trying to distort or disconnect our connection with God.  When our connection with God is lost, we are truly off-the-rails, out-of-control and wandering.  In the world of nature, predators try to draw a weak or sick animal away from the protection of the herd.  Then they find easy prey.  This is how Satan and the demonic world operate, always looking for a victim.

The above is a scary scenario, until we realize the paradoxical solution offered by God in His word.  Yes, we have an enemy, but we need to realize that Satan's number one tool to harm us is something pretty simple ... self.  Here is the simple formula Jesus teaches from the Gospel of Matthew (16:25).  "He who wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me (Jesus) will find it."

Here is the paradoxical point to all of this:

1) I think most of us are good with the idea of saving our life.  While most of the time we are comfortable, we have a "self-preservation" tendency, and that self-preservation manifests itself in many ways.  We want to be in control.  We want to be free.  We want to be important and significant.  Jesus turns the table on all of this.  He says, in no unclear terms, our salvation isn't something that comes from our own power.  If we keep trying on our power ... our terms, our plans and our reasoning ... we will lose our life in the process.  We neither have the wisdom or any power to save our own life.  CR says "I realize I am not God and I am powerless to control my tendency to do wrong, and my life is unmanageable."  It is the first lesson of many, but without this lesson and realization, healing will no and cannot happen.   Jesus teaches this lesson because He has hope that the 12 disciples will realize powerless is not worthless and lost is not a lost cause ... there is a solution.

2) The solution is both beautiful and terrifying.  We must lose our life to find it.  Zac Brown records a lyric in the song "Knee Deep" that is profoundly simple ... "when you lose yourself, you find the key, to paradise."

I was preparing a Sunday school lesson the other day.  I use the Agape Classroom and our little group meets there as close to 10am as possible each week.  When I went into the classroom, both dry erase boards were full.  The information on the boards was from the two weeks prior, but this week's lesson needed a place.  So I got out the eraser and cleaned off the old lesson.  The new lesson couldn't be written until the old one was erased.  Maybe that is what Jesus is teaching here.  I come to Jesus with my mess, my confusion, my priorities, my plans and my stubborn pride.  Maybe Jesus is trying to tell me, "Randy, I need to erase that old stuff.  Let's start a new plan, a new lesson, and the new creation I see in you!  Lose yourself in me and I will keep the good, send away the bad and take your upside down life and turn it right side up!"  Jesus told 12 disciples (all with their own ideas, their own plans for "The Kingdom" and all with their mess) "Stop trying to save your life, because this will cause death.  Instead, lose your life in me, and you will find your life."  Moses knew this when he told stubborn, stiff-necked people, "The Lord is your life (Deuteronomy 30:20)."  C.S. Lewis recounted that "Aslan (the Jesus figure in the Chronicles of Narnia) is not a tame lion, but he is good."  Jesus is not a tame savior, (He is bad to erase your board) but He is good!  Randy