Jesus taught that, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)
Years back I read the following amazing story from WWII.* I’ve been unable to collaborate it so here it is, as is.
The man reporting it tells of meeting a pilot who flew laborers from China into Burma during World War II to work on jungle roads. The flight was long and boring, so the laborers would take to gambling.
Since they had no money to gamble with, they gambled with their lives — the loser had to jump out of the plane without a parachute!
The comment at the end of the story was that as terrible as that was, it sure made the game exciting.
Perhaps we could say that one of the main reasons people find themselves living — shall we say — long and boring lives is that the kind of choices they’re making involve minimal risk to themselves if any at all. They are just trying to preserve what they have and pursue the next thing that feels good.
In Jesus’ mind, nothing could be further from Life — with a capital L — than that. For him, true life is all about putting our lives on the line. That is to say, it’s about making a commitment of your life so complete that should you lose, you lose everything — it will be you jumping from the plane without a parachute. It was for nothing short of just such risk that all the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 received commendation.
To live trusting God 100% means that if your total commitment proves to have been a mistake, you know it’s all over for you and nothing matters anymore. Yes, such a prospect is indeed terrible but with the stakes that high it sure makes everyday living exciting. You find Life as Jesus intended for it to be lived.
*One Minute Wisdom. Anthony de Mello
