Luke 9:23 says, “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” What does this mean? Well, let's take a look. First off, what Jesus says here is addressed to ALL, not just the Twelve Apostles. When he says “Come after me”, he means that we are to become his disciple. A disciple of Jesus must deny himself, not just deny himself certain things, but total personal control of his life. We need to make a commitment that may in fact lead to hardship and even death. Here in America, we think we are persecuted when someone reads our “Christian” T-shirt and throws the F-bomb at us. Yeah, OK. There are people in Sudan getting tortured and killed this minute because they are Christians. That's persecution. Jesus then says, “follow me”. We must follow Jesus' example of how to live 100% for the glory of God. Everything we do MUST be for him, and we must thank him for all things, good or bad.
Luke 14:27 says, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” This condition of discipleship is critical, in that if we have not done this, then we must ask ourselves whether we are a true Christian. Jesus commanded us to repent and put our faith in Him. If we continue to live primarily to satisfy our own fleshly desires, have we really repented? Have we really put ALL of our faith in Him? I think not.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “...I die daily”. This is what he's talking about. We don't feed the desires of the beast (or ourselves, the flesh) but rather live totally for God, killing the flesh, in other words. We need to stop living to please ourselves. Everything – every single thing we do must be for the glory of God! We need to embrace God's will, no matter what the cost is. We must not feed the flesh, but give it all up and turn towards God. Have you been feeding the beast?
By the way, what are you doing for God? Have you witnessed to anyone lately? Passed out a Bible tract or two? Given a copy of “Hell's Best Kept Secret” to someone at the park? Called up a family member to share the good news of the Gospel (because you care that he is on his way to hell, and do not care if they get angry with you, if it could mean he'll get saved)?
Pull out your drivers license and check the birth date on it. Subtract your age from, let's say, 80 years. Note how much time you might have to live. Look in the mirror and ask yourself, “What have I done for God so far? How many years have I foolishly wasted?” Use every single minute of your life to do something that glorifies God.
About 150,000 people die every day in this world. How many are dying without Christ this very minute and are on their journey to hell? Don't spend your time “feeding the beast”, but rather use this time for God's work. Well, what are you waiting for?
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