abolish

Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that [b]loseth[/b] his life for my sake shall find it.

I have been reading this many times, but a wile back i stopped. And i thought to myself.... what does it mean to lose my life?

i looked up....
Strongs
622 avpo,llumi apollumi {ap-ol'-loo-mee}
Meaning: [b]1) to destroy 1a) to put out of the way entirely, abolish, put an end to ruin 1b) render useless 1c) to kill 1d) to declare that one must be put to death [/b]1e) metaph. to devote or give over to eternal misery in hell 1f) to perish, to be lost, ruined, destroyed 2) to destroy 2a) to lose

and that word stood out to me [b]abolish[/b]

i must [i]abolish[/i] my own life

Websters
ABOL'ISH, v.t. [L. abolco; from ab and oleo, olesco, to grow.]

1. To make void; to annul; to abrogate; applied chiefly and appropriately to established laws, contracts, rites, customs and institutions - as to abolish laws by a repeal, actual or virtual.

2. [b]To destroy, or put an end to[/b]; as to abolish idols. Isa 2. To abolish death 2 Tim 1. This sense is not common. To abolish posterity, in the translation of Pausanias, Lib. 3. Song 6, is hardly allowable.

Another lexicon says(Fribergs)

literally lay down one's life, i.e. die voluntarily

and one thing also is, in the previous verse it says( v38 )

And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, [b]is not worthy of me[/b]

those words are sobering....

If our lives are going to be of use and of
service to God, we can't abolish them. But
we can offer ourselves as living sacrifice
which is our reasonable service to God!! :-o

Corey_H wrote:
hmmhmm, interesting information.

Though it's important to bear in mind that to love the Lord over and above our family in no way abrogates our responsibility to love and respectthem, still (or anyone made in the Image of God).

"Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. [i]But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, [b]It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;[/b] And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free.[/i] Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (MATT 15:1-9)

"But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (I TIM 5:8)

yes brother, it is never Gods will to neglect another of "Gods wills", i mean God has given me my family and i should take care of them, even as one in ministry can think he is doing Gods will in his ministry, but if he at the same time neglects his family he misses Gods will, that is my conviction. So it is important to take care and love our families, but! in comparison with how much you love Christ, the love you have for your family should be as hatred compared how much you love Christ, and he was the one who gave you your family, so it would be stupid to love the gift more then the giver.

Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

if you do this, how can you not love your family?

1 John 2:9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

it is not possible to hate and love God so i i dont think that verse is literal, when Jesus speaks about hate, i think when compared to the love towards God it seems like hate.

1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

dorcas wrote:

Dear brother Christian,

While you are meditating upon these things, please remember that Jesus Christ came to save us, and to restore our souls (Ps 23) and not to destroy us. In fact, He is all for the preservaton of the image of God in man... this is WHAT He came to restore.

I believe there can be great conflict within believers when trying to make sense of what it may mean to lay down one's life. Certainly, I don't believe we are to abolish our own lives.

In Christ, the death (through Adam) is abolished

2 Timothy 1
6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,
9 who has saved us and called [i]us[/i] with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, [i]who[/i] has [u]abolished death[/u] and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

The way Young explains our giving away of our lives is

Matthew 16:24
Then said Jesus to his disciples, `If any one doth will to come after me, let him [u]disown himself[/u], and take up his cross, and follow me,

Mark 8:34
And having called near the multitude, with his disciples, he said to them, `Whoever doth will to come after me--[u]let him disown himself[/u], and take up his cross, and follow me;

Luke 9:23
And he said unto all, `If any one doth will to come after me, [u]let him disown himself[/u], and take up his cross daily, and follow me;

Young uses the word 'disown' of Peter's denial of Christ, also.

I find the idea of 'disown' helpful, because it gives me [i]permission to exist[/i] for the glory of God in my own right, as long as I don't spend what He gives on my interests, but rather direct my resources according to His word and will.

some interesting thoughts sister,

some more scriptures

Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and [b]his own life also[/b], he cannot be my disciple.

the word hate here according to strongs

3404 mise,w miseo {mis-eh'-o}
Meaning: 1) [b]to hate, pursue with hatred, detest 2) to be hated, detested [/b]

quite strong definition!

and what you said gives me the right to excist for his glory, i think i understand what you mean.

but i think also of verses that speak about creating a new creature, a new person, a new heart, the old has passed away.

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

and about 2 tim 1 i like that! abolished death...

makes me think of Joh 17:3

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Gods peace to you

Christian

I was interested in the the word life after loseth.

strongs says this:

psuchē
psoo-khay'
From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: - heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

So I think it has to do with source. So to maybe read it another way. He that loseth(abolish) his life source for my sake will find it.

I have been meditating heavily upon this aspect of our walk and its relationship to the parable of the sower. We are fruitful with whatever seeds we throw in our lives thoughts, attitudes, etc.