{"id":6141,"date":"2024-11-27T20:45:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T01:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/?p=6141"},"modified":"2024-11-27T20:49:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T01:49:28","slug":"save-lose-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2024\/save-lose-find\/","title":{"rendered":"Save, Lose, Find"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u201cThen Jesus said to his disciples, \u2018Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their life?\u2019\u201d Matthew 16:24-26<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This otherwise candid passage leaves a few open questions to consider. One is: What does it mean to save, lose, and find one\u2019s life? The answer I believe varies across people. With my privileged life as a professor, wishing to save versus lose my life has been spiritual as opposed to physical (many others are not so lucky).<\/p>\n

Specifically, I wish to save my life when I prioritize my personal goals, ambitions and glory above God\u2019s purposes and glory. Whereas I lose my life for his sake when I subordinate within my heart all personal goals, ambitions, etc. to God\u2019s purposes for my life. The passage above teaches us that choosing the latter is the only way to lasting peace, contentment, and happiness, and ultimately to find one\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

This message is neither novel nor controversial among followers of Christ. While it is an easy message to understand and accept, it is difficult to consistently apply in many contexts, including academia. The almost unparalleled freedom for faculty to work independently, the strong incentives to establish CVs full of accomplishments, and our pride all work to facilitate an inward focus on personal achievement that is inconsistent with the message above.<\/p>\n

Within this environment, I have failed, and continue to fail to place God\u2019s purposes above mine. What is encouraging and highly persuasive though is the absolute reliability of the effects of doing so.<\/p>\n

Without exception, every time I mistakenly believe something is about me, and\/or look to some realized or unrealized personal accomplishment as a source of happiness, I ultimately experience unease and disappointment. Examples of such unfulfilling accomplishments are many and include completing a dissertation, obtaining the first publication, securing tenure and various promotions.<\/p>\n

All of these (and other) accomplished goals produce short-lived emotional \u201chighs\u201d that are quickly replaced with an anxious focus on the next achievement. <\/p>

Conversely, when I regroup and remember that nothing is about me and\/or what I accomplish, but rather about God, his purposes, and timing, I always experience peace, contentment, and happiness.<\/blockquote>\n

The absolute reliability over many years of these negative versus positive effects of following selfish versus God-centered purposes is undeniable. In this regard, the life reinforced lessons of Matthew16:24-26 provide me with a strong foundation of faith and a source of great comfort.<\/p>\n

As professors, like all other callings, we have a great opportunity to find our life by following Christ\u2019s example of working selflessly for the benefit of others. Remembering the above message of Matthew 16:24-26 helps establish the needed mindset to do so.<\/p>\n

I periodically wish that I would have more fully internalized the lessons above earlier in life, and regret the frequent times that I still forget. Fortunately, as Matthew 20 teaches, God still hires (and generously compensates) later in the day.<\/p>


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Andrew Reffett<\/strong><\/h3>

Department of Accountancy<\/h3>

Miami University<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThen Jesus said to his disciples, \u2018Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45210,"featured_media":6144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2437],"tags":[3448,3450,3445,2446,3446,3449,3447,2562,3452,3453,3180,2430,2542,3451,2854,3196],"class_list":["post-6141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-faith","tag-accomplishment","tag-achievement","tag-andrew-reffett","tag-contentment","tag-glory","tag-goals","tag-happiness","tag-joy","tag-matthew-16","tag-matthew-20","tag-peace","tag-pride","tag-purpose","tag-selflessness","tag-success","tag-surrender"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSave, Lose, Find - Faculty Commons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2024\/save-lose-find\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Save, Lose, Find - Faculty Commons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThen Jesus said to his disciples, \u2018Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. 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