In the book of Matthew we see Jesus talking about his death, and Peter rebuked him and indicated that Jesus would never die on the cross. Matthew 16:23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get you behind me, Satan: you are an offense unto me: for you consider not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
So we see that when Jesus was talking about his own death on the cross he informed them that hey would also have to take up their cross and follow him.
Then in Luke once again we see Jesus talking about his death, and informing them that they too will have to take up their cross and deny themselves for his sake.
Luke 9:22Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. 23And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or suffer loss? 26For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.
Was Jesus talking about only his disciples here? No. He said if any man come after me, let him do what? DENY HIMSELF. What?!? Does God expect us to deny ourselves? Yes. You see sometimes the will of God goes against what we desire. Sometimes we have to lay down our lives, and be obedient to God. You are not required to be a miracle worker, but obedience to God is required.
There are times when we are like Jonah and we have a hard time with what God wants us to do. Jonah decided to forget God's will and do his own thing. He was not going to suffer to do the will of God, he was going to skip out and just quit. There are those who try to skip out and God and just quit every time things don't go their way. What happened to Jonah. He was swallowed by a great fish! And this is what happens to our lives when we refuse to suffer for the Lord. We get swallowed up by circumstances. Depression comes and swallows us up. Anger comes and swallows up our lives. Panic and fears come and swallow us up. Impossible circumstances come and swallow us whole, and we cannot escape it. What does this verse say? It says very clearly 25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:
There are those that are convinced that they aren't going to deny themselves of what they want for nobody. We are the most selfish generation that has ever lived. When God speaks to me things that are telling me that I am WRONG and that I need to change I have a choice. I can pray and ask God to change me, or I can ball up and walk away and find someone that will tell me what I want to hear. But, just because you can find a false prophet that will tell you exactly what you want to hear does not mean you are going to SAVE YOUR LIFE. The only way to save your life is very clear. but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
As long as you hold on to your life, your ways, your opinions, your selfishness, your desires, your plans, YEAH it's all about YOU isn't it...You are going to find that you keep losing YOUR life to circumstances that swallow YOU up. But I don't believe that anyone can lay down their life and follow Jesus unless their heart is made right. When the love you have for God is greater than any other love. When you want to please God more than you want to please yourself. When you live, and move, and your being wrapped up in Him You will gladly lay down your life for Him. You won't want anything to come between you and Him. You will want to be as close to him as you can get. You will desire him more than you desire gold, or silver. With every breath you take you will praise him and want him to be with you.
When I lay down my life and take up my cross and follow Jesus, I don't do this so that I can have something back, or to gain anything in this life. I do so because I love Him, and I desire His presence in my life. I hunger for Him and thirst for Him like a deer thirst for water. It is time to lay aside a selfish Christianity that says, "What is in it for me" And to have a heart change where it is all about HIM, because it was all about HIM anyways.
No comments:
Post a Comment