“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
Luke 9:24 (NIV)
When someone asks how you are doing, who gets the honest answer?
For many of us, the answer is almost nobody. We have a version of ourselves we show at work, a version we show at church, a version we post online. We look capable. We sound fine. And underneath, we are often tired from keeping it all up.
It takes a great deal of energy to look strong all the time. Jesus offers us a different way to live.
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
Context first. This saying sits at a turning point in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus has just asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” and Peter has answered, “God’s Messiah” (9:20). Immediately Jesus begins to explain what kind of Messiah He is: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected… and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (9:22).
Then He turns to everyone: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (9:23). Matthew and Mark record the same saying, but only Luke includes the word “daily.” Taking up the cross is not a one-off heroic moment. It is a daily way of life.
To first-century ears, “take up your cross” was a shocking phrase. A cross was not a piece of jewellery. It was the Roman instrument of execution, and a condemned man often carried the crossbeam to the place where he would die. Jesus is saying that following Him means a daily surrender of the right to run your own life.
Now look at the word “life” in verse 24. The Greek is psyche, which can mean life, soul or self. Jesus is talking about more than physical survival. He means the self you are trying to protect, promote and preserve. Whoever clutches that self tightly will lose it. Whoever hands it over to Jesus will find it.
And here is where it touches the masks we wear. Often the thing we work hardest to save is our image. We need to look capable. We need to be right. We need people to think well of us. So we hide our struggles, push back against correction and keep our weaknesses out of sight.
Jesus had a word for that kind of performance. When He confronted religious pretending, He called it hypocrisy. The Greek hypokrites originally meant a stage actor, someone who spoke from behind a mask. Jesus was never harsh with honest sinners. He was very direct with people who were acting.
Following Jesus means giving Him the right to challenge the story we tell about ourselves. Sometimes He will say, “You were wrong there.” Sometimes, “It is time to change.” That is uncomfortable. But it is also the beginning of freedom, because our hope was never meant to rest on our image. It rests on His grace.
Now let me guard this carefully, because “deny yourself” has sometimes been badly misunderstood.
Self-denial is not self-hatred. Jesus is not asking you to despise yourself, erase your personality or pretend you have no needs. You are made in God’s image and dearly loved. What He asks you to deny is the self that wants to sit on the throne, the self that demands its own way.
Self-denial is also not a way of earning salvation. We do not take up the cross to make God accept us. Jesus took up the cross to accept us. Our daily surrender is a response to grace, not a payment for it.
And honesty is not the same as telling everyone everything. Wisdom chooses safe, trustworthy people. But you do need some. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” There is a kind of healing that only happens when we stop hiding.
Here is the good news underneath all of this. Jesus already knows. He is not shocked by what you are hiding. Hebrews 4:13 says, “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” That could sound frightening, until you read a few verses later that we have a High Priest who is able “to empathise with our weaknesses” (4:15). The One who sees everything is the One who loves you most.
And Jesus Himself walked this road before us. He did not save His own life. He laid it down. And on the third day God raised Him. That is the pattern of the Christian life: losing for His sake and finding in His resurrection.
So this Friday, can I encourage you to stop performing for Jesus? You do not need to impress Him. Through Him there is forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit’s help to change.
Think about one area of your life you have been holding on to tightly, trying to control or trying to hide. What would obedience look like there? Maybe it starts with admitting a mistake. Maybe it means asking someone you trust for help. Maybe it means telling God plainly what you have been avoiding saying.
You can stop pretending. Put that part of your life into His hands, and find the freedom only He gives.
Reflection
1. In what setting do you find it hardest to be honest about how you are really doing? Why do you think that is?
2. What is one area of your life where you are trying to “save” your image instead of trusting Jesus with it?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You that You know me completely and love me still. I confess the masks I wear and the energy I spend trying to look strong. I give You the right to challenge the story I tell about myself. Thank You that You did not save Your own life but laid it down for me, and that the Father raised You from the dead. Help me to take up my cross daily, not to earn Your love but because I already have it. Give me trustworthy people I can be honest with, and the courage to let them in. Holy Spirit, set me free from pretending. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
I do not need to perform for Jesus. I lay my life in His hands, and in Him I find the life I could never save on my own.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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