“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:24-25)

As Americans, every single day we face the temptation to live for ourselves and for this world instead of living for God and His unseen Kingdom. Most of my life I’ve trusted this world more than God, and it has caused me a lot of pain and sorrow. If you are a born again disciple of Jesus Christ, your identity is not in this world. We are called “children of God” (1 John 3:1-2) and “citizens of heaven” (Ephesians 2:19) We cannot find “life” in this world because Jesus is our abundant life. Thank God that He has given us true eternal life!

We can try to find our life in music, cheerleading, sports, dancing, grades, etc… These things aren’t evil, but if we put them first we are only pretending to live. We can never have enough in this world because God made us to be completely satisfied ONLY with Himself. There is no substitute for Him.

When we give into our earthly desires, they satisfy us for a moment, but then they leave us hungrier than before. It’s like the difference between eating cotton candy and steak, both of them taste good, but only one brings lasting nourishment.

Then why would we run from God and chase after the world? Because we haven’t trained ourselves to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
Jesus offers a “more abundant life” (John 10:10). We must learn who we are according to what God says, not what pop culture says. God created us, He’s trustworthy and His word stands.

If we love ourselves and the world more than we love Jesus we will lose our true selves. But if we fall in love with Jesus we’ll know that nothing compares to Him, and we’ll find true joy in living with Him every day.

Discussion Question:
- What are you losing yourself to? How do we fall more in love with Jesus and less in love with the world?

Challenge:
- It’s very easy to forget how cold this world really is and how God has called us to do something about it. Think about ways your youth group can reach out and make a difference in hurting people’s lives. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the needs of others and to provide the resources to help. Dream and think big, for our God is a big God!!

Lyrics To "Cold World"

verse 1:
In a world full of bottled up pain, hurt and sorrow
six people out of ten won't want to wake up tomorrow
when thirty thousand children won't live through tomorrow
malnutritioned and starved, stomachs empty and hollow
while the rest of us take every meal, breath and step for granted
forgettin' life was a gift in us a seed was planted
we've lost ourselves to this world, with it became enchanted
our hearts were fertile soil but now they're rock harder than granite
on this populated planet one man will kill another man
to prove what he calls manhood but really it's insanity
can it be that all this pain, hurt and calamity
is the derivative of sin committed by Adam and Eve
it gets worse, year after year statistics prove
that over 900,000 kids suffer abuse
and that's just in America, land of the free
home of the brave where 34 percent of children can say
they have to face life without their biological father
so basketball and rap stars become their role models
and now they're supposed to choose right over wrong
when all their role model talks about is murder in his songs
it's a known fact, this world is oh so cold
you could search your whole life across the whole entire globe
just remember the prophesy from ages ago
"What prophet a man to gain the world yet forfeit his soul?"

chorus:
It's a cold cold world
Don't lose yourself in it

verse 2:
Ladies and gentlemen, let me just tell you
a little somethin' that I think you could benefit from
when I was young I would pretend I was dumb and not raise my hand
so I didn't come across as an intelligent one
'cause back then it wasn't cool to be smart
if you cared about school somehow that made you a loser at heart
it was a lie spread by kids that were to lazy to study
I was a fool to believe and let 'em shape me like puddy
ain't even funny, time starts flyin' so fast
somebody kicked it into fifth gear and stepped on the gas
old age will creep up like a snake in the grass
before you know it, you're dead lyin' in a casket
everything we lived for didn't mean a thing
'cause this cold world is temporary life in vane
so I search for what's eternal submerge myself in the truth
Lord the only way to stay warm in this cold world is you

bridge:
Don't let this world grab a hold of you, take you in and mold you into somethin' you don't want to be
'Cause when it's all said and done then, you can't turn around and change a single thing