| “Then He (JESUS) 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 9:23 |
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| DYING DAILY to SELF to be Fully DEVOTED to YOUR SAVIOR Luke 9:23 is one of the top verses in the Bible as we consider the expectations that Jesus has for His followers. Many churches, as well as many Christians, will have a mission statement that says they want to be a “fully devoted followers of Christ.” That type of mission statement is born out of Luke 9:23 and can only be fulfilled by practicing what Jesus called for in Luke 9:23. Let us look closer at the thought of being a “fully devoted follower of Christ” with Luke 9:23 as the guiding verse. Living out Luke 9:23 means one must not and cannot be about themselves. IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU IF YOU ARE A FOLLOWER OF JESUS! If there is the desire to FOLLOW Jesus, one must DENY themselves. One cannot be self-centered as one is to be totally surrendered. Jesus said one is to take up his/her cross, which is symbolic of you being dead. To take up a cross means one had no rights. If your desire is to be a fully devoted follower then you are going to need to surrender fully of self and clearly decide that whatever Jesus says is to be obeyed. Wherever Jesus says to go is obeyed. The focus of life has moved from WHAT YOU WANT to WHAT JESUS WANTS. You fall in line as a FOLLOWER. You can only be a FOLLOWER if you have surrendered to the leading of the LEADER! Now let’s be honest with ourselves. Luke 9:23 may just be the most challenging verse to live out. We do want OUR desires fulfilled and OUR dreams accomplished. To be a fully devoted follower is so challenging that Jesus specifically states it is to be done DAILY. Every day we are to DIE to ourselves in order to live for Christ. It is a daily prayer of not my will be done but His will be done! As you ponder Luke 9:23, which says, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me,” pause to ponder the difference between one who is committed to Christ and one who is surrendered to Christ. What is the difference between being committed and being surrendered? I would also challenge you to connect Luke 9:23 to Romans 12:1, which says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” DATE the Word on September 23 (9/23) with Luke 9:23. It says, “Then He (Jesus) said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Have you decided to FOLLOW JESUS? Have you SURRENDERED ALL to JESUS? Continue Strong dying daily to self in order to be fully devoted to our Savior! And remember to DATE the WORD! |