I am looking at John 12:25. Added the verses around it for context. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. Just looking for your thoughts. What did Jesus mean when He talked about those who love their lives losing it, and those that hating their lives saving it it eternally....is He talking about people who love worldly possessions, looking for pleasure in this world? I have always been full of a lot of self loathing and self doubt, and it does not fit with all of the Norman Vincent Peale self esteem stuff, the best life now type of teaching. Going back to my failures at finding a church, I feel like this is a reason why. It is like people are there to grab a moral lesson and then they clock out on Jesus for the rest of the week. That is my perception anyway. Does there need to be a hatred for our life in this world in order for a person to follow Christ? I have been listening to a teacher recently who really emphasizes rightly dividing. he would say that Jesus was teaching the Jews and that Paul brought Christ's message of the age of grace. That may well be true. I'd like to hear what this verse means to you all. My take is those who love this life (meaning this world’s sinful system) got their eyes only on the cares and pleasures of this world ... this is all they will have ... and nothing to show in the next life. But those who live Godly in Christ Jesus and are busy working ... sharing their faith, praying for lost souls, etc. have rewards waiting for them in the next life. Then there are those who are pretender “Christians” that mingle in with true believers. I John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I think it speaks of dying to self and living to love, honour and glorify God! Making Him our first love will guarentee He will be our last love eternally! Context with surrounding verses is good ground. Then we must take in the whole word when we are dealing with theme verses! IMHO TR here's an audio about John 12:20 - 26 its about the definition of discipleship. an unsaved person is not a disciple, only a saved person can be a disciple. there are notes where the scripture that is referenced can be found. if you have time, i encourage you to hear. https://slbc.org/sermon/discipleship-its-definition-and-importance/ I haven't listened to the link posted by regina so I cannot comment on it, but I am in agreement with Geri and TR. Keep in mind that Jesus was using language of the day when He said these things. (Today's world is so hyper-sensitive that this language seems all but vulgar to us.) He also says that unless you hate your mother and father then you cannot love Him, but our literal interpretation of this goes against everything he Gospel teaches us. But He also says to honor your parents. So how can these two things go together? What He is saying is that unless your love for Me is greater than your love for your mother or father then you can have no part in Me. The comparison would make it seem as if you hated your parents because your love for Him is so great. He also realizes that we are but sinful dust and we cannot do these things without His help. Any self-esteem should be who we are in Him, not who we are in this world. As far as loving the world, He is speaking of the world system. He created amazingly beautiful things in this world and we admire them and praise Him because of them. It is not this that He is referring to. Pretty much anything the world (system) tells you is in exact opposition to what He is telling you. The world says "be proud", He tells us to "be humble". The world tells us to "seek self gratification". He tells us to "die to self". If you want to know how to be just look at what the world does and go 180 degrees in the opposite direction. With discernment from the Holy Spirit you cannot go wrong. Well said! TR
