Jesus clearly says: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 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 8:34-35}. But I am constantly convicted that I don't really live a lost life. Not fully. Not all the time. We are called to live our lives in complete surrender to God. Lives where we obey God fully. Serve others unceasingly. Withstand trials and inconveniences joyfully. Forgive those who wrong us eagerly. This is a lost life. This is a life where the Gospel is honored above all else. This is a life that considers both the good and the bad of this world rubbish in comparison to knowing Christ and living with him in heaven for eternity. But sometimes I don't surrender my life fully to God - don't fully lose my life to him - because I have boundaries. I try to "save" my own life. I try to establish limits in order to protect myself from fully surrendering to the Gospel, because sometimes that surrender is hard and uncomfortable and sacrificial. For example, I might say: "God I am trying to obey you in most things, but I just want to be selfish in this one area. I just want to buy this one thing when I know I shouldn't. I just want to be angry at this person for a few minutes."  "I will love this person tomorrow, when I have more time to write an e-mail. I will serve my friend after I get all my housework done. I will love my husband by doing this one chore for him today, but if he doesn't reciprocate by helping me this weekend, I will be bitter about it."  "I have withstood this trial for three months now and have tried to be joyful, but today I am just going to give in and be bitter and angry and hopeless." "I will forgive this person one more time, since you've commanded me to, but after that, I'm done." Jesus doesn't work like that. He never said, "I'll only go to cross if..." He never said, "I'll let them give me 29 lashes, but if they try to give me 39, I'm done with this."  He never said, "I'll forgive them this time, but if my disciples show a lack of faith again, I'm going to go find new followers." And he has never said to me, "If you sin again, we're through. Or "if you are faithless, I just won't stand it." Instead, my Savior, when he was up on that cross in agony, prayed over his persecutors, saying "Father, forgive them" {Luke 23:34}. Instead, my Savior has promised that even when I am faithless, he will remain faithful to me {2 Timothy 2:13} Not only did Jesus physically lose his life for me, but he lost his life daily by living simply, humbly, sacrificially and, most of all, righteously so that he could trade his holy life for my unholy life. So God could look upon me and see him in my place. This is a lost life. A lost life does not have boundaries on how much sacrifice will be made for the Gospel. A lost life means loving without reciprocation, obeying without hesitation, serving without reward and forgiving without restraint. A lost life means following Jesus, even to the point of death. If I am called to die for Christ, then how foolish of me to think that I can live for Him with my own boundaries. That I can put limits on how much I serve or whom I love or justify my own attitudes when they fall short of joy. There are no boundaries on the lost life - nothing, including life itself, should be withheld from God. Jesus died for us and we are called to live lost lives for him and for the sake of his story - the beautiful Gospel. ... Read more