Pastor’s Corner: “God’s Economy”
Luke 9:24–25 (ESV) – For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
This has been year like no other I have seen in my lifetime. There has been much grief in loss of health, loss of finances, loss self-esteem / dignity, loss of freedom, loss of civility and loss of life affecting our hope in the future with the virus and related circumstances. It has been destructive and devastating. In a given year, you can lose a lot. Whether the losses are material, financial or relational, these losses can seem to “add up” and discourage us in our Christian journey. However, the apostle Paul had a different view toward loss. He saw loss as gain, only when it is coupled with faith in Christ. No matter how great our loss is, through Christ our gain is always greater! Jesus is the world’s greatest gain outweighing any loss that one may encounter in this life. And if Christ is our greatest gain, we will never lose hope.
We think that all the good times in our lives will bring hope. But in reality, hope grows in the garden of adversity. God can be glorified through human suffering and bring good out of bad. The gain that we encounter will always be greater than our loss. When Lazarus became sick, Mary and Martha wanted a healing; Jesus wanted a resurrection. He wanted to do more than they wanted Him to do, but it came through a loss. We can have a hard time seeing this in the moment. We see the small picture, but God sees the big picture. We see the temporal, but He sees the eternal. As difficult and hopeless as the world seems right now, we can be encouraged that our future holds the greatest gain through Christ Jesus.
I am reminded of the story of Joseph. He endured almost being murdered by his own brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, thrown into prison and forgotten (an estimated 10 years). Joseph suffered great loss in his life. Then God saved him out of prison and placed him as second in command over all of Egypt. He was restored to his family and God used him to save many lives during the famine in the land. Joseph’s gain was greater than his loss. Joel 2:25 (ESV) 25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter.
I am also reminded of the story of Job. His loss was more than most us will encounter in a lifetime. He lost his children, lively hood, home and property all in a moment through no fault of his own. Yet in the end through faith Job was restored. Job 42:10, 12 (NLT) – 10 When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! 12 So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.
And most importantly of all there is the loss of God’s own Son. Through no fault of His own Jesus gave up His own life for our sake. He paid the debt for our sin so we could receive the greatest gain. Freedom from sin and death and to live eternally with the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit in our Father’s home. No more suffering, no more pain, no more fear – no more loss. Through the great loss of the death of Jesus, God gave the greatest gain that the world will ever know. Do not lose hope and remember our gain through Jesus Christ will always be greater than any loss we will ever face on earth!
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton