GBI PRJ (CK7)

Seorang pria pernah ditanya, "Apa sih manfaatnya berdoa?"

Pria itu hanya menjawab sederhana, "Sebenarnya sih saya ndak dapat apa-apa, tapi justru saya kehilangan sesuatu."

"Lho, kok bisa, memangnya kehilangan apa?" ia ditanya kembali.

"Ya," jawab pria tersebut, "saya kehilangan rasa marah, mementingkan diri sendiri, rasa khawatir, dan lainnya."

Terkadang, mungkin kita tidak mendapatkan jawaban doa seperti yang kita inginkan atau kehendaki, namun Tuhan terlebih tahu apa yang benar-benar kita butuhkan serta perlu bagi kita, terutama membentuk karakter kita.

Seperti halnya Serenity Prayer oleh Reinhold Niebuhr atau doa memohon ketenangan hati, "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference" (Tuhan, mohon berikan padaku ketabahan untuk menerima hal-hal yang memang tak dapat kuubahkan, serta keberanian untuk mengubah hal-hal yang sungguh-sungguh dapat kuubah, dan hikmat untuk membedakan keduanya).

Matius 16:24-26 (BSD), "Lalu Yesus berkata kepada pengikut-pengikut-Nya, "Siapa saja yang mau menjadi pengikut-Ku, ia tidak boleh lagi mementingkan diri sendiri. Ia harus mau menderita seperti Aku dan mengikuti Aku. Sebab, orang yang berusaha menyelamatkan hidupnya, akan kehilangan hidupnya. Tetapi, orang yang tidak mementingkan hidupnya di dunia karena mau mengikuti Aku, akan mendapat hidup. Apa gunanya bagi seseorang, kalau ia mendapat seluruh dunia ini, tetapi ia tidak mendapat hidup sejati dan kekal? Tentu saja tidak ada gunanya! Tidak ada yang dapat dilakukannya untuk mendapat kembali hidup sejati.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also]. For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting]. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]? (AMP)

Then Jesus said to us disciples, "If any one of you wants to be my disciple, you must not do only what you yourself wantto do. You must be willing to let people hurt you and disgrace you. That is like what they do to criminals whom they force to carry a cross to the place where the criminals will be executed. That is what anyone who wants to be my disciple must do. You must do that, because those who try to save their lives by denying that they belong to me when people want to kill them for believing in me will not live eternally, but those who are killed because of being my disciples will live with God eternally. People might get everything they want in this world, but …if they do not become my disciples, they would really be gaining nothing because they would not get eternal life!/What would they gain if they do not become my disciples and thus do not get eternal life? …There is absolutely nothing that people can give to God that would enable them to gain eternal life. [What can people give to God that could enable them to gain eternal life?] (DEIBLER)

~ FG