“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38

I felt impressed to change up the blog a little and do some shorter posts dealing with a particular verse or passage of scripture, exploring that thought and teaching a little deeper,

We are now so far into the end game that it is hard to diffusate the truth from the false teachings, twisted fools’ gold forged by demonic decoys whose only purpose is to seduce away souls, offering them flesh pleasing false salvation, that is no salvation at all while they reject the truth and condemning their own souls.

It is imperative to know the Word of God and cling to the Word of God.

Deuteronomy 11:18; “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul…”

In this passage of scripture, Jesus is dealing with what has always been a stumbling block encountered by many as they navigate the path to salvation.

Salvation is quite simply attained, we must truly repent, we must be aware in our hearts and spirits of our shortcomings, failures, and mistakes, as scripture teaches us:

“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”  2 Corinthians 7:10

So once we experience that godly sorrow and repent and ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus, we are free in Him, we are free from that guilt, shame, and eternal punishment that those sins would have otherwise condemned us to.

But often the world with constant escalation of hatred and mockery of God, his Word, and those who wish to serve him, some could be tempted to hide the truth of their belief fearing that they will lose the life they know, their friends, their stature, whatever it may be that they have trusted in and constructed their identify from before receiving their true identity in Christ and whom they were created to be.

But we have to be willing to lose that life, lose those friends and sometimes even our employment if that employment dishonors God, and in losing that life, God will provide with a more excellent path, one that he has chosen for us, with his blessings, his peace, and his provisions already waiting there for us and he will also bless us with those who will help us along that path no matter how many others we must forsake in our choice to live for him rather than this world.

As you notice, he minced no words with his statement concerning this adulterous and sinful generation, so poignant, because it is truly hard to fathom much worse than the godless behaviors of today which are celebrated as the truth is ridiculed along with all those who hold these truths.

We can believe in our hearts, and we can lie to ourselves that we are just being social, that we don’t want to rock the boat, or that the world has the right to be the world, true, they have that right but as a believer in Christ we have a choice and we must either choose to lose a life living a little too close to all that sin and trust him leaving it behind and never going back to any of it, and yes, this does include people who do not share your faith.

Once you are converted, you must leave it all behind, otherwise they will only destroy you and lead you back into that life that God delivered you from.

Otherwise, you will lose the life God has chosen for you as a blessing to you and you will also lose that life you have chosen above the value of your own soul.

This is why he asks what does it profit us if we gain everything, the entire world, and the world in scripture represents all that is carnal in opposition to God and his holiness, the pursuit of all the riches, all the fake friends, all the notoriety, all the social acceptance that is now demanding complete allegiance to prevision and rampant ungodliness.

We all must make that choice, so may I suggest, choose soon and choose wisely, lose what will not profit you in the end and find a greater life and find a life eternal.

James 4:4: “…know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

Φλογιζω 2023 NBJ/ Rev. N Brown Johnson