Take Up Your Cross

 Scripture:

”Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.“ ‭‭Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Observation:

Jesus says here that if anyone wants to be His follower, they must give up their own way and take their cross daily and follow Him. Saving your life, He told them, is giving up your life. There is a cost to following Jesus. We can’t live our own way and do what we want. Following Jesus means taking up our cross every day and following Him. It means His will is more important than my will.

Application:

Walking with God means total surrender. God asks us to forsake all and follow Him. Our place of greatest blessing is the place of greatest denial. As we surrender our lives to God, He then gives us the desires of our heart. When we live to honor Him and obey Him, He will bless our lives completely. Our pursuit must always be Him and His will, not whatever we want out of life.

Prayer:

Father, I submit myself to you once again this morning. You are worthy of my very best. You are holy and righteous, and glorious. Help me to follow You completely and to finish my race strong. I long to hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” Help me to pick up my cross daily and follow You completely. 

Yours,

Jeff