The Word: Luke 9: 23 (KJV)
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Dig Deeper: Luke 9: 24 (KJV)
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Think about it
TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY….
Many people interpret “the cross” as some burden they are stuck with, which they must carry in their lives: a bad relationship, or divorce a physical illness, a mistake of the past that left consequences. Some will say: “That’s my cross I have to carry.” Yes the cross is symbolic of a burden to us 21st century Christians. But at the time of Jesus, the burden was not the main emphasis. At the time of Jesus, the cross was mainly symbolic of crucifixion: death on a tree….. In other words when Jesus asked his followers to carry their cross daily, he was technically saying they should carry the tool of death daily.
So what does it mean to carry our cross daily:
1. It means to Jesus needs to be my no 1.
My priority, My goal. I must be secondary, he must be primary. When decision are to be made and there is a conflict. I must choose to please him first rather than myself. Abraham was told to sacrifice his son: Isaac. He had the choice of keeping his son or obeying God, He chose to obey God. Discipleship will demand 100% from us. 70% will not be enough. Being faithful in your offering but not being faithful in our time will not be enough. When God gave Jesus, he gave his best, he gave his all. His expectation is that you will give your all back. That’s how God thinks. He didn’t need Isaac to be dead. He was only testing Abraham. God will demand your all to demonstrate to him that you love him 100%. S
2. It means it’s a daily commitment.
It is a constant commitment. Once will not enough. That you were committed yesterday will not be enough. It has to be ongoing and continuous. It needs to be refreshed every morning. You will daily have the opportunity to go back on your commitment. Everyday you will need to make fresh commitments to put him first
3. Service in the midst of inconvenience:
The cross is definitely heavy. So it’s a burden. In other words, it is not convenient. Many things we will be required to do will not be convenient. But God expects our obedience all the same. If we love convenience, we can’t be true disciple. We will need to endure hardness many times.
2 Timothy 2: 3 – 4
3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
So taking up our cross daily will involve: Putting Jesus as No 1, a daily, continuous commitment and requires service in the midst of convenience.
Nuggets:
I need to make Jesus No 1 in everything…..
Our memory verse for February 2018
John 3: 3
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Let’s take a few moment to learn our memory verse for this month by heart. It can be memorised in 2 lines:
Line 1: Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Line 2: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Once you say it a few times it will stick.
Prayer focus: Our prayers for the next level project:
LORD help me to make Jesus No 1 in all that I do.
On Grace:
Masterlife Workbook: The Church is embarking on weeks of discipleship workbook study: Masterlife now on the 2nd workbook: The Disciple’s personality
