If you save your life, you will lose your life

These words of Jesus are repeated throughout the Gospels: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:34–35; see also Matthew 16:24-25; Luke 9:23-24; 17:32-33; John 12:24-25). But what, exactly, did the Lord mean? How do we lose our life by trying to save it or save our life by losing it?

Here are two powerful examples from history that illustrate the crucial point Jesus was making.

In 1965, opposition was rising within the civil rights movement to Martin Luther King’s non-violent but confrontational methods. Wouldn’t it be better not to confront the issues so openly? Perhaps it was too dangerous? Dr. King responded to these concerns in a famous message he delivered in Selma, Alabama, March 8, 1965.

He said, “Deep down in our non-violent creed is the conviction there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true, that they’re worth dying for. And if a man happens to be 36 years old, as I happen to be, some great truth stands before the door of his life – some great opportunity to stand up for that which is right.

“A man might be afraid his home will get bombed, or he’s afraid that he will lose his job, or he’s afraid that he will get shot, or beat down by state troopers, and he may go on and live until he’s 80. He’s just as dead at 36 as he would be at 80. The cessation of breathing in his life is merely the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. He died. …”

Dr. King continued: “A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.

“So we’re going to stand up amid horses. We’re going to stand up right here in Alabama, amid the billy-clubs. We’re going to stand up right here in Alabama amid police dogs, if they have them. We’re going to stand up amid tear gas!

“We’re going to stand up amid anything they can muster up, letting the world know that we are determined to be free!”

Dr. King was saying that those who wanted to save their lives by playing it safe and compromising their convictions were actually losing their lives. They might go on breathing, but their spirits would die in the process.

In contrast, those who were determined to do what was right regardless of cost or consequence, even at the risk of losing their physical lives, actually saved their lives – meaning saved their freedom, saved their dignity, saved the very essence of themselves. They also helped save the nation from the ugliness of segregation and racial hatred.

The second example comes from the life of pastor Richard Wurmbrand who became world famous after enduring 14 years of horrific torture and imprisonment under the communist regime in his home country of Romania. His book Tortured for Christ,” which may have been the most translated religious book written last century, remains an important read to this day. (The movie by this title can be watched for free here.)

As recounted by Anna Waltar, “When Romania fell into the hands of the Russians in 1945, Wurmbrand found his work made more dangerous than it had ever been during World War II. The Communists believed Christianity to be completely incompatible with Marxism, and so they used every method at their disposal to cleanse the country of true believers.

“First, they sought to force pastors to swear their allegiance to the state, promising them the freedom to keep their churches open as long as they preached in support of Communism. Early on in the regime, the government summoned a gathering of all the Christian leaders in Romania, and called upon each of them one by one to affirm their loyalty to Communism.

“As Wurmbrand listened uneasily to the confessions of his fellow ministers, Sabina turned to him and asked, ‘Will you not wash this shame from the face of Christ?’ When he responded that she would lose her husband if he chose to speak out, she boldly replied, ‘I don’t need a coward for a husband.’ Convicted by her words, he then gave a rousing speech in which he wholeheartedly rejected Marxist doctrine and affirmed Christ Jesus as the sole head of the church.

“Although applauded by the other pastors for his bravery in reminding them of where their true allegiance ought to lie, Wurmbrand would later face the severe consequences of his actions, which had labeled him undeniably as an enemy of the state. This speech in front of the congress, while bold, was only the first of many greater risks he would be called upon to take in maintaining his loyalty to Christ.”

Pastor Wurmbrand understood the force of the Lord’s words. He could save his life by keeping silent, or worse still, by praising the atheistic government, as many other church leaders chose to do. But to do so was to forfeit his very soul.

Sabina Wurmbrand understood this too, telling Richard that she would rather that he did the right thing, wiping the “shame from the face of Christ” regardless of the consequences, than have a coward as a husband.

The choice they made on that fateful day was terribly costly. It cost Richard Wurmbrand years of agonizing torture and solitary confinement. And it cost Sabina years of horrible deprivation in a slave labor camp.

But it’s a choice that neither of them regretted, ultimately enabling them to draw worldwide attention to the evils of communism and the plight of the suffering church, as well as to inspire millions of believers to take their stand for Jesus.

Most of us will not be faced with the life and death decisions that confronted Dr. King and the Wurmbrands. But all of us ultimately have choices to make, choices to go the way of compromise and convenience in order to save our lives – choices to save our popularity or finances or social media standing or security. Or choices to do what is right in God’s sight, regardless of cost or consequences, losing something valuable in the process but thereby saving our very lives.

Choose wisely! “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”