Losing that which we cannot possibly keep

A missionary named Jim Elliot once wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Sadly, Samson was a man who gave up what God had intended for him to gain what he couldn’t possibly keep.

Samson was a Nazirite, a person dedicated to God, and in Samson’s case, for life. With that came God’s blessing and leading. (Judges 13:23-24)

But in this passage, he sought a woman forbidden by the law of Moses.

God used Samson’s action to accomplish His own purposes and begin saving His people from the Philistines. But at the end of the day, Samson gained nothing, losing the woman he had sought.

How often, I wonder, does God accomplish his goals through me, and yet I gain nothing because my heart is wrong before him.

Instead of seeking Him and His kingdom, I seek what I cannot keep, whether it’s the things of this world, the praise of people, the pride of life, or whatever it may be?

Lord, let me be as Jim Elliot, not Samson. Let me give up what I cannot keep, to gain what I cannot lose.