Live to Love Scripture Encouragement, John 12.25

John 12:25 He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. Let’s just focus on the first phrase. Jesus stated it as a fact: he who loves his life loses it. He surely means “loves his life in this world” since he contrasts it with “hates his life in this world”. What does He mean by love? I suggest love in this context means that one identifies with, is attracted to, and draws satisfaction from the things and people in this world. He who loves his life in this fallen world is certainly dead. For Jesus is life, and He hates this fallen world, and it hates Him. Anything that isn’t of Him is dead. Again, Jesus alone is life. To love something that is dead is to reveal the lost state of the heart. When we live to love with Jesus we love what and who He loves. Loving life in this world is not what He loves. He loves His Father and the things above. In the Spirit, Paul wrote, “set your mind on things above and not on the things that are on the earth”. Do you have a love relationship with your life in this world? If so, Jesus said assuredly, you will lose it. There is a Hebrew word used at the end of an important statement in the Psalms. It’s the word “Selah.” It means to pause and ponder what is said. Selah.