Following Jesus Is Deliberate
Luke 9:23
A few years after the beginning of His earthly ministry, many people followed Jesus. By this time He had turned water into wine, multiplied fish and loaves to feed thousands, cured people of diseases, taught heavenly truths, and raised the dead. Who wouldn’t want to see such a show?
But then Jesus began to expound on the heart of His message and His ministry. He didn’t come to heal. He didn’t come to teach. He came to seek and to save (Luke 19:10).
Jesus explained what it meant to follow Him: “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. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it’” (Luke 9:23, 24).
Cross? What? For twenty-
first-century Americans, a modern equivalent might sound like this: Take up your personal electric chair and follow me. A cross was not a symbol of hope and faith during the life of Jesus. It was a symbol of agonizing death.
So why in the world did the One who came to bring abundant life (John 10:10) want us to choose death? Because He was looking for followers who would die to sin. He called us to die to selfishness, die to pride, die to ourselves. Each day, we choose to kill everything in us that is not Christ.
Still want to be a Christ follower?
Luke 9:23
A few years after the beginning of His earthly ministry, many people followed Jesus. By this time He had turned water into wine, multiplied fish and loaves to feed thousands, cured people of diseases, taught heavenly truths, and raised the dead. Who wouldn’t want to see such a show?
But then Jesus began to expound on the heart of His message and His ministry. He didn’t come to heal. He didn’t come to teach. He came to seek and to save (Luke 19:10).
Jesus explained what it meant to follow Him: “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. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it’” (Luke 9:23, 24).
Cross? What? For twenty-
first-century Americans, a modern equivalent might sound like this: Take up your personal electric chair and follow me. A cross was not a symbol of hope and faith during the life of Jesus. It was a symbol of agonizing death.
So why in the world did the One who came to bring abundant life (John 10:10) want us to choose death? Because He was looking for followers who would die to sin. He called us to die to selfishness, die to pride, die to ourselves. Each day, we choose to kill everything in us that is not Christ.
Still want to be a Christ follower?
Following Jesus Is Deliberate
Luke 9:23
A few years after the beginning of His earthly ministry, many people followed Jesus. By this time He had turned water into wine, multiplied fish and loaves to feed thousands, cured people of diseases, taught heavenly truths, and raised the dead. Who wouldn’t want to see such a show?
But then Jesus began to expound on the heart of His message and His ministry. He didn’t come to heal. He didn’t come to teach. He came to seek and to save (Luke 19:10).
Jesus explained what it meant to follow Him: “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. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it’” (Luke 9:23, 24).
Cross? What? For twenty-
first-century Americans, a modern equivalent might sound like this: Take up your personal electric chair and follow me. A cross was not a symbol of hope and faith during the life of Jesus. It was a symbol of agonizing death.
So why in the world did the One who came to bring abundant life (John 10:10) want us to choose death? Because He was looking for followers who would die to sin. He called us to die to selfishness, die to pride, die to ourselves. Each day, we choose to kill everything in us that is not Christ.
Still want to be a Christ follower?
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