The Ultimate Gain for the Ultimate Loss
This morning I sat in my usual spot by the window in the living room of my wonderful apartment. Beyond the glass, the flowers in my balcony garden are blooming—including a beautiful while flower that just opened since yesterday. The birds are happily feeding at the bird feeder. The sun is shining and all is replete in my world. Missionaries are supposed to be suffering for the sake of the Gospel. Any suffering I do is slight. I am doing what I enjoy in a relatively safe and pleasant environment. As the psalmist writes: " The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance " (Psalm 16:6). I am grateful. I read this morning's verses, and wonder. Jesus said: " If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it " —Matthew 16:24, 25, NIV, emphasis mine. MY cross? By definition, a cross is a...