Have you lost your life?

When a man was made a knight he would first kneel before his lord. Then he would bow his head, offering the lord both the back of his neck and his sword. He was placing himself deliberately in a vulnerable position, from which the lord could kill the knight, if he so desired. The knight, through this ceremony, was making a dramatic promise. It said, “I offer my life to you. I grant you the power of life and death over me. I am now a dead man. I no longer live for myself, but for you." Meanwhile, the lord would acknowledge this promise and all that it implied by tapping him on both shoulders with the flat of the blade in a symbolic beheading.

According to Jesus, the life he calls us to involves identically the same process:

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ~ Mark 8:34b-37

Though many may have forgotten, this is a HUGE part of what becoming a Christian means. It means losing our lives (at least symbolically, and perhaps even literally) for Jesus' sake and acknowledging him as our sovereign Lord. It includes recognizing that He can send us where He will and call us to action according to His plans. Our life is no longer our own, and we owe to our Lord complete allegiance.