Then he said to all of them, “Whoever wants to follow me must say no to themselves. They must pick up their cross every day and follow me. Whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will save it. (Luke 9:23-24 NIrV)
Yes I am a Christ-follower. If you are reading this, you probably are also. So you have heard the verse above several times . . . especially during the current Lenten and Easter Season. As we look upon the cross and imagine the torture Jesus went through . . . . the cursings, beatings, the carrying of the heavy wooden cross leading up to the brutal crucifixion . . . . who could bear that kind of abuse? Yet He did it for you and for me.
I am quite sure Jesus would not have chosen this kind of sacrifice had he a choice. In fact we read it here:
He said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup of suffering away from me. But do what You want, not what I want.” (Luke 22:42 NIrV)
So Jesus is asking us, no telling us, that to be His true follower we must make a daily decision to carry out the father's will, not our own desires. Every day we must decide God's direction and not our own. This is indeed a challenge for us all. During Lent, people talk about giving up . . . what about giving up our selfish ways and agreeing with God as to what He has in store for us?
What if we allow Him to direct our paths? (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Are we up to it? #dailychallenge
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