Then
Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must
deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save
his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For
what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or
what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:24-26
We are so
close to Christmas. It is awkward to consider Jesus’ cross when we are caught
up in remembering Him in a manger—a crib. Take up your cross. What does that
mean to you? To be a devoted disciple of Jesus, we need to deny ourselves—there
is room for only one master in our lives. As we take up our cross to follow
Jesus we give our whole life…not just our Sunday morning. Losing our life for
Jesus is total dedication—putting Him first in our life…not family, friends,
sporting events or our job. Read Luke 14:25-35.
Life
following Jesus is summed up in a book that was written even before He was born
as a man. Here now is my final
conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone's duty. God
will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good
or bad. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NLT.
Best advice we can hear—be obedient to God and His word. There is nothing that
is of greater value than giving our life to Jesus.
RSVP:
Jesus is calling us today to take up our cross and follow Him. How will you
respond to Him?
Prayer
~ Lord Jesus—You are such an example of self sacrifice in Your obedience to
Our Heavenly Father—from the crib to the cross. Help us to be obedient, too.
Not that we have to “go to the cross” like You did, but that we need to be
willing to carry our cross, to be obedient and not seek to do our own will—but
to do the Father’s will.
© 2014 by Mickey
M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All
scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise
noted.
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