Loving Life

John 12:25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

25 ὁ φιλῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολλύει αὐτήν, καὶ ὁ μισῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον φυλάξει αὐτήν.

In my opinion, this is one of Jesus' hardest sayings.  It stands in stark contrast with how we tend to look at the world.  We think in terms of our life and our stuff, etc.  We get very hung up on possessions, particularly in affluent America.  Not only that, but we also get very concerned about our rights.

The follower of Christ can't think that way.  Of course we should enjoy life.  I don't think that this verse is a call to asceticism.  However, I also don't think that it means that we are to seek the pleasures of this world.  We can enjoy them as we have opportunity, but we do not live for them anymore.  Instead we are to effectively die to ourselves so that we can live for Jesus.

I like to think that I do this well.  I think about how I exercise regularly or how I deny myself various things out of discipline.  Well whoopee.  I think I've really only scratched the surface on what it means to die to myself.  I love my life out of proportion with the call of this verse.  How about you?  Do you love your life?  Or are you ὁ μισῶν (one who hates)?