The Paradox of Gain

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.  Mark 8:35 NIV

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” — Jim Elliot

It’s been ten years since I was working in Zambia and Malawi, when I became the sickest I’ve ever been. Unable to keep anything down, every slight movement sent my body into intestinal spasms. Sick, sleep-deprived, depressed, and thousands of miles from home, I wondered if this was where it would end for me

In those moments, the Lord confronted me: “Are these people you came to serve worth dying for?” In my heart, I knew I wasn’t ready to say yes. That revelation was convicting—but it didn’t come with condemnation. Being an apprentice of Jesus is a journey, and this was what you might call a “heart-check.” It showed me where Jesus was still working in me.

The good news? Jesus isn’t disappointed or anxious about the pace of our growth. Apprenticeship to him isn’t about performance—it’s about overflow. He transforms us from the inside out.

Apprenticeship means intentionally adopting Jesus’ way of thinking, acting, and being—training with him in everyday life—until we become the kind of person who naturally does what Jesus would do if he were living our life. It’s a moment-by-moment, day-by-day surrender, knowing that nothing done in love is wasted and everything is woven into God’s final renewal.

Some finish the journey sooner than others. In January 1956, Jim Elliot and four other missionaries traveled to Ecuador to bring the gospel to the Auca people, a tribe known for hostility toward outsiders. After making initial contact and seeming to make progress, the men were attacked and killed on a sandbar along the Curaray River.

Elliot was only 28, leaving behind his wife, Elisabeth, and their ten-month-old daughter. When he wrote in his journal, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose,” he captured the heart of Jesus’ teaching in Mark 8:35 and Matthew 6:19–21.

• “What he cannot keep” points to earthly life, possessions, and status—all temporary, destined to fade.
  
• “What he cannot lose” is eternal life in Christ, the joy of knowing God, and treasures stored in heaven.

Elliot’s life and death put flesh-and-blood weight on those words. Surrendering—even to the point of death—isn’t foolish if it secures eternal joy that can never be taken away.

And that brings us here: Today is a gift. One more day to trade the temporal for the eternal. One more day to lose what cannot last, to gain what can never be taken.

Where is Jesus asking you to lose—so you can truly gain?

Run the Play: Gain by losing.

💬 Finding Our Place in the Story

Where in your life are you tempted to cling tightly to what you “cannot keep,” and what might it look like to release it to Jesus?

How does Jim Elliot’s example challenge or inspire you in your own apprenticeship to Christ?

What would it mean, practically and personally, to “gain by losing” in your relationships, work, or daily routines this week?