REFERENCE:
Luke 9:23-25(NIV)
Then he said
to them all, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up
his cross daily and follow me. 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.
COMMENT:
The word anyone in verse 23 includes all born
again Christians. Jesus was addressing his disciples and what he was asking is
that all without exception must deny themselves. The word “must” means without
option or choice but have to obey the order given. Jesus is the Lord and his
order must be obeyed. It is always, “Yes, Sir! You are not supposed to say no
if the order is from the Lord.
The word “deny”
in the same verse, means saying no to the flesh (human desires). The flesh will
say, ‘I want ……” The answer to this statement is, you won’t have it. Then the
flesh will continue to say, “I think’”. The answer should be, “The bible says………..”.
“Take up his
cross daily and follow me”. The cross to take is not the physical wooden or
other materials carried by some religious people. It is also not the cross men
get themselves nailed on during Easter to demonstrate how religious they are.
These are legalistic acts meant to move God but originate from lack of knowledge
and understanding. God in not, at all moved. Only some people are fooled.
According to
the scriptures under reference, Jesus expects us to forget about our human
rights and accept that we do not have to survive. We do not have to strive, quarrel,
murmur, criticize, fight back or be selfish. Such mean actions are not part of
our weapons. We are forbidden from using such deadly arsenal. Let the people against
you go ahead and destroy you. I know how difficulty such a thing is, but our
Lord gives us no alternative. He says he will defend us, himself. His godly
advice is that we should not fear those who can only kill the body and nothing
else.
An example
is given of a striving and fighting couple. Any wife or husband, who is a
disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, does not have to survive. Let your opponent
crucify you. Just follow the Lord through the gate, out of the city, up on the
hill and let them crucify you.
This world
is not our home. We are heading home and it does not matter even if we arrive with
scars. The Lord Jesus Christ arrived there with scars and he is still carrying
them today. He was given the name that is above all names on arrival. TAKE
HEART!!
PRAYER: Jesus
Christ! We want to follow your example. We are coming home soon.
PLEASE READ
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