Council Grove Christian Church

8/19/26
Servants of God,
 
“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
 Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
-Matthew 16:25,26
 
About a year ago our bank account was breached and drained! Some nefarious character got access to private information and overnight made purchases until the account was empty. If you have ever had this experience, you know that it is no simple matter to get everything corrected. Thankfully, our losses were minimal. 
After we had righted our financial ship with new accounts and new and better safeguards on the computer, I began a new habit. I began a daily “safety check” on the bank account—just in case. Thank God, so far we have avoided another such fiasco. The whole thing brings to mind the importance of daily vigilance about things that matter. Here is the rub. If money matters enough to do daily checkups, how much more important is it to do daily soul checkups?
A good question for every Christian is How am I doing spiritually? My bank account might be secure, but how about the most important part of my life? How is it with my soul?
There are different levels or categories of worship. The first is personal. Am I spending adequate time and effort each day to calibrate my life to the living and only true God? Am I thankful each day for the fact that Christ died for my sins in accordance with the scriptures? Am I seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness? Am I working out my salvation or just sitting on it?
Scripture warns and comforts us. We are warned to take heed, lest we fall. And we are comforted with the fact that God is faithful to be with us and provide for us in the midst of temptations. This occurs in the span of two verses of scripture (1 Corinthians 10:12,13). It is good for each of us to stay on our spiritual toes. We dare not get lethargic and fail to do proper spiritual self- checkups.
If you are like me, the ordinary can get so familiar that it begins to lose its glory. There is a temptation to want something spectacular to enter my life so I will never have to do the daily obligatory work of Christian discipleship. As Michael Horton points out, we must be careful about the kind of growth we desire. Both a tree and a forest fire can grow. One kind of growth leads to stable productivity. The other is spectacular and horribly destructive. Seeking spiritual thrills carries grave dangers with it. When God brings us times of spiritual ecstasy, they come according to his way and in his timing—not because we try to gin up spiritual fireworks.
Christians are most likely to maintain spiritual health through daily self-examinations using God’s word as the benchmark. Without diligent monitoring of our spiritual condition we run the risk of losing our focus and drifting from God. The good things of life come to us from God, but they are not God. It is possible to gain much in the way of earthly treasure and recognition and lose every thing that truly matters.
The context of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 16 is important. Jesus taught his disciples that following him involves self-denial and taking up the cross daily. It is an odd picture of discipleship isn’t it? Following Jesus must be done while we carry a cross. The metaphor reminds us that true discipleship involves a day-by-day death to an old, self-centered life. If you are like me, you must make a check every day to find out if you are truly dying to the old and living for what truly matters.
Blessings,
 
Pastor John
Coram Deo