Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. 

If you think this Scripture verse (Luke 17:33) sounds familiar, there’s good reason.   Jesus says the same thing at least once in every Gospel!   But even though it’s familiar, Jesus’ statement is the type of paradox that can be hard to make sense of. What does it mean for me?

To see one way it was lived out “in real life,” let’s look at someone who practiced “losing” his life and ended up “saving” it.

Francis Xavier was an ambitious young man who sought success in the scholarly world.   Living in Paris, he had many opportunities to take advantage of all that the world had to offer.   But an older student named Ignatius of Loyola saw something special in Francis—something that could be fulfilled only as he let go of the life of scholarly success that he valued so highly.   And so Ignatius befriended him and challenged him—patiently but repeatedly—to put God above his worldly ambitions: to “lose his life” instead of seeking to “preserve it.”

Slowly, Francis found his priorities changing. Earthly accomplishments no longer seemed so fulfilling.   The idea of doing great things for God started to entice him.   After following the Spiritual Exercises with Ignatius, he decided to let go of his earthly ambitions, “lose” his life in this world, and devote himself to God.

The rest, as they say, is history.   Francis Xavier spent the rest of his life bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the distant lands of Asia.   He is credited with the conversions of countless people, and it’s said that he baptized more than one hundred thousand people before he died at the age of forty-six.

Your experience of losing your life to save it probably won’t look as dramatic as St. Francis Xavier’s.   But inwardly, it is every bit as life changing.   Every time you put aside your own preference or put someone else first, you are “saving” your life.   Each choice to hold your own plans loosely and ask for God’s guidance is a choice to let go of preserving your own way.   Little by little, these choices reshape your heart and your will. Step-by-step, your desires start to change.   Before you know it, you’ll be doing great things for God!

Word Among Us