Life without the Force

“Life without using force.” Sounds very Star Wars, doesn’t it? 

But this is essentially what I answered when someone asked me what I’ve been learning in a hard, limiting season. I’ve always been a doer with a fairly high capacity. The planner. The organizer. The host. The follow-upper. 

Lately, I haven’t been able to *make* things happen, though. I’ve had to step back. I’ve had to let life go on life-ing without me putting as much effort into it. And incredibly, the world has spun just fine without me exerting my force against its axis. 

My understanding of Matthew 16:25-26 has grown richer in light of this:

“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

Maybe we don’t try to save our lives, knowing that’s for Christ alone, but so often we do try to preserve our lives in the form we prefer. We curate them. Quantify them. Stuff them full of meaning. We would much rather take up something for Jesus than lose something of ourselves for Him. 

We would much rather take up something for Jesus than lose something of ourselves for Him.  Share on X

That’s natural.

These verses come on the heels of Peter admonishing Jesus for speaking of his coming suffering, death, and resurrection.

Peter had recently confessed Jesus to be “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). He believed in Jesus’ purpose, but it seems he didn’t agree with His plans; he saw Him as Savior, but saw no place for His suffering.

Peter, like so many awaiting the Messiah, believed the good and everlasting life the Messiah was going to bring would come by force. By taking things over. Winning people over. An insurrection, not a resurrection.

Jesus, it seemed, was meant to make life happen, not to let death happen.

But that’s not God’s way. It never has been. His powerful work so often is done when He calls us to be still, to send back our many reinforcements, to surrender.

True life doesn’t happen by wrenching it into position, but by waiting on the word of the Lord, His provision, His intervention, His unfolding purposes to be revealed. It’s trusting God as we let Him shape life, instead of trying to make it into the life we think it ought to be. 

Something that flows from ceasing to “force life” is that we also have more time and internal capacity for tending to the souls that we get to keep when this life ends. The ones Jesus said would be foolish to forfeit, even in exchange for the world. He has a right to say this. He is Life Himself. He bought our souls with His life. He came so we may have life to the full.

With such a Savior, why would we need to gain the world, or even the small part of it we think we ought to carve out for ourselves?