Following Christ
Matthew 10:38 - "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me".
Matthew 16:24 - "Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
Mark 8:34 -"When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
Mark 10:21 - "Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
Luke 9:23 - "Then He said to them all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
Luke 14:27 - "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
Our Christian walk is much bigger than saying the Sinners' Prayer, observing sacraments, speaking Christianese lingo, and sporting the W-W-J-D's.
Christ requires more from us than all these. He asks us to, on a daily basis, deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him.
In the four gospels, this instruction is mentioned SIX times! If not anything else this alone lends credibility and urgency to this message. A crossless walk is a Christ-less walk.
Jesus asks us to:
DENY - to come to the place of total surrender; where our flesh comes under; where our heart's sincere desire is "Not my will, but YOURS be done"; where the testimony of our Christian walk is clearly "Not by power, nor by might, but by [the] Spirit of God".
PICK UP OUR CROSS - to fellowship with Christ and His sufferings. We don't just stand from afar and watch/comment/praise/applaud His sacrifice but make it ours by relating it to what we are facing in life and live it out.
FOLLOW HIM - in simplest form, to walk in Christ's footsteps, imitating His love, meekness, and heart; His desire to please the Father; and allow Him to be fully formed in us.
DENY - to come to the place of total surrender; where our flesh comes under; where our heart's sincere desire is "Not my will, but YOURS be done"; where the testimony of our Christian walk is clearly "Not by power, nor by might, but by [the] Spirit of God".
PICK UP OUR CROSS - to fellowship with Christ and His sufferings. We don't just stand from afar and watch/comment/praise/applaud His sacrifice but make it ours by relating it to what we are facing in life and live it out.
FOLLOW HIM - in simplest form, to walk in Christ's footsteps, imitating His love, meekness, and heart; His desire to please the Father; and allow Him to be fully formed in us.
Comments
Post a Comment