God called Abram into a relationship that took Abram from his home and kindred. Abram left Ur not knowing where following God would take him. The call in today’s passage is even more sweeping: Jesus calls his followers not only to journey with him but to give up their lives for him and for the sake of the gospel.
Paradoxically, those who do so will not lose their life but find it. This is not a call to mere discomfort or upheaval but to a completely new way of being in the world. Abraham receives a new name; we receive a new purpose and a new identity. Carl Jung said, “The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.” When we cast our lot with Christ, we begin discovering who God wants us to be. Each of us finds our true name, our essential identity, in God. (See Ephesians 3:15.) And this life is a fuller life than any we could design for ourselves.
Each day we trade that day of our life for something. When we try to follow Jesus’ example by bringing love and healing, we have a clear answer when situations and decisions ask us who we are. If we walk into a day intending to listen consciously to Christ and to do what Christ asks, we increase the chances that the trades we make will have lasting value. That’s what Lenten disciplines are—expressions of our intention to walk deliberately with Christ.
Looking back over the last few days of your life, what have you traded it for? When we allow Christ to direct our choices and shape our attitudes, we trade our lives for what truly matters.