The Cost of Salvation

It occurred to me while reading a chapter in John deGruchy's book Christian Humanism that personal salvation is costly. This is it. "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it." I think "losing" one's life can be taken both literally and figuratively. One can "lose" one's life by sacrificing it for a cause like Christ did or Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi. The giving of one's self, one's physical body and spirit, over to death is perhaps the greatest of all costs but there is another. There is the cost of abandoning one's prejudices, confronting one's hatred and desire to live in this world without sacrifice, without obedience to Jesus as Lord.

I am forever in conflict of whether we must we put down our nets in order to walk wholly with Christ or whether we can bear our crosses and love like our Lord, as deGruchy states, to "put God's reign first", have our lives rescued from darkness while living with our feet firmly planted in this world, working and parenting and not always sharing our bread. We are saved when we lose ourselves, when we render our lives in the service of our fellow humans but how do we do this and continue to live life devoted to "the gospel of prosperity and ego-satisfaction"? I don't know how to strike a balance between living a semi-ascetic lifestyle, devoted to prayer and service, and being preoccupied with materialistic successes. It makes pure discipleship impracticable. What a cost! I do know that salvation in this life is a commitment to humanising one another. Perhaps I can begin here. By somehow humanising my enemy, my neighbor or the stranger, I am forced to find in them the Divine also found in me. It is my humanity and your humanity fully alive.
Amen.