Lose What? (Luke 17)

I noticed something I hadn’t before in today’s reading (Luke 17). There’s the famous verse where Jesus says that whoever loses his life will find it and whoever finds his life will lose it.

And we usually talk about that in big general terms — we need to be willing to lose our lives, give up control, lay down our dreams, and if we do then God will give us real life. And I totally agree with that, but if you read this verse in context, that’s not what Jesus is talking about.

He’s talking specifically about our possessions. He’s saying that we need to be willing to lose our possessions to find life life, and that if we hold on to our possessions we’ll miss out on life.

For some reason that verse seems easier to swallow when I think about it in the big generic terms then when I read it in context and realize specifically what Jesus means. I’m just saying…