Most of us love the Lord and make an effort to get closer, but the Lord is talking about something far greater. The King of Kings desires us to know Him so much more. There is much He would like to share with us, but we hold on to our lives---myself included.
Matthew 11:12 says from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. But the Amplified Version renders it beautifully: the violent men seize it by force as a precious prize---a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion.
The King is part of the kingdom and He is definitely a precious prize worth any effort we have to expend.
Matthew 16:24-25 says that if anyone desires to follow Him, we must deny ourselves or more directly, put away our own ambitions. It goes on to say that if we try to save our life that we will lose it, but if we give over to His desires and leadings then we gain HIM. When we persist on our path, then the result is a limited relationship.
We need to give up 'our life' just like He gave up His. When we die to ourselves and obey Him, the Lord will manifest Himself to us. In other words, we need a vision for heaven. The Lord tells us to lay up treasures in heaven (Matt 6:20). He is our treasure and our reward now and in the hereafter, as well.
Unfortunately, many of us are happy with our arrangement with the Lord. We pretty much complete our goals and conduct our affairs as we see fit. He is in our lives, but for the most part, we still have our hand on the controls.
Paul says in Phil. 3:8 that he counts all things loss for the excellence of knowing Christ Jesus. He goes on to say that he has lost everything for Christ, but counts it all rubbish in comparison.
Paul was one who sought the kingdom with intense exertion and considered Christ a precious prize. There was a sense of abandonment in his walk with the Lord.
We tell others, "It's not a religion, but a relationship!", yet we keep a good portion of our lives for ourselves because it sounds negative "to lose your life for Christ". In reality, it couldn't be further from the truth. The quality of life improves immensely----our communion with Him is sweeter, His blessings flow and the enemy is in the distance instead of nearby.
We need to shift our focus from this world to His kingdom and view things in the right perspective.
Our relationship with Him will blossom as we make Him the center of our existence. Seek ye first the King and His kingdom!
