So,
Christian, are you willing? Are you willing to truly be God’s own?
Believer, will
you stay true to God, even when you are persecuted?
Are you
willing to take up your cross to follow God?
If you
believe in God, and if you call yourself a Christian, you must think about
this:
Jesus said, “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow
me, [then] you are not worthy of being mine.” (Matthew 10:38)
No one said
that being a Christian was going to be easy! In fact, it can be quite difficult
at times. It’s going to become very critical soon. Persecution is knocking at
our door. If you haven’t already experienced persecution to some degree, you
may be caught off guard.
Yet, God gives
us the strength to be worthy of being called His own. He is mighty to give us
the power to live in obedience to Him.
Jesus tells
the disciples that the only way to
follow Him is by turning away from their selfishness.
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of
you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your
cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
When Jesus
spoke again, not only to the disciples, but to other people as well, he added
that we must even “deny” ourselves.
“And when he had called the people unto him
with his disciples also, he said unto them, ‘Whosoever will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’ ” (Mark 8:34)
When Jesus fed
a huge crowd of people (numbering approximately 5,000), he blessed a mere five
loaves of bread and two fish that were miraculously multiplied until the 5,000,
or so, had eaten until they were completely full. Afterward, Jesus spoke to the
crowd:
“Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you
wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your
cross daily, and follow me.’ ” (Luke 9:23)
The
difference in this passage of scripture is that Jesus is saying we must take up
our cross daily. Yes, He said daily!
What do you
do daily? Brush your teeth? Comb and/or brush your hair? Eat? Of course! Yet, do we start every day with God? It is essential to
be close to Him always! If you should find yourself lacking or far away from
God, wake up! Get right back to Him! This should be the most important decision
of our life every day! C’mon! We don’t forget to eat every day, do we? We must
be willing to follow our Savior with enthusiasm, with passion, and with great
love, and we should be eager, not just willing. We need His direction daily!
A willingness
to take up our cross means that we must agree to do so, and continue to do so.
We must agree to take it up daily. We must turn away from our own selfishness.
We must deny ourselves. And we must follow Jesus Christ.
Being human,
we can certainly tend to be selfish. To turn away from our selfishness, we must
go against our own flesh. We must learn to live in the spirit to be holy and to
do what is right.
So, are you
willing to take up your cross daily? Can you do it? Of course! It’s a choice.
We must! God
requires each of us to be willing. He will help us, but we must be willing to
submit our will to Him, and follow His will for our lives.
Certainly, there
are distractions in life. We may be on the right path, taking up our cross daily,
turning from our selfishness, denying our own will, and submitting ourselves to
God by following Him in obedience. Then, suddenly, we get off track. Something
or someone pulls our attention away from God. Someone or something tempts us to
turn away from the path we’re on.
We must get
back on course — the right course! The view on this course sees the cross by
seeing exactly what Jesus did for us. We have been offered salvation. God deserves
our all.
“For God called you to do good, even if it
means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you
must follow in His steps. (1 Peter 2:21)
I could write
so much on this subject, but I must keep this blog post short.
I strongly urge
you and encourage you to read The Holy Bible and discover the truths available
to you. And pray, pray, pray!
This is a
warning from God! God is love, but He is also just. We need Him. Call out to
Him today and do not lack in doing His will. Are you willing?
Until we
virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself.
God’s Word
for Today: “Not everyone who calls out to
me, ‘Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do
the will of my Father in heaven will enter.” (Matthew 7:21)
Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Shehan
All
scripture is quoted from various translations of the Holy Bible (God’s Word).
