One of our challenges for 2014 is to learn and live
all 50
commands of Jesus. Jesus told us that following his
commandments is a way to love him and a way for his love and his joy to fill our
lives (John 15:9-12). In his Great Commission, Jesus tells his followers
to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything he commanded
us (Matthew 28:19-20). So each week in this year we are learning and
living one command of Jesus. Here is our command for this week...
Week 13:
Then Jesus said to them all, “Whoever wants to be my
disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me,”
(Luke 9:23).
Application:
As I have been studying the commands of Jesus, I have
found that every command comes with Good News.
Every one. Even this one.
I know denying yourself may seem like bad news, but think
about it with me. To deny yourself is to
say “no” to yourself. In this case it
means saying “no” to yourself so that you can say “yes” to Jesus.
In the moment, saying “no” to ourselves may not sound
like a good thing. We want what we want
and we want it now. But have you ever
noticed that the things you want are not always the best things for you. I want that dessert, even though it will not
do good things in my body. I want to
play another game on my phone, even though it’s keeping me from spending
quality time with my family. I want to hit
the snooze button in the morning, even though it will mean missing out on
exercise that will boost my physical health and on time with God that will
boost my spiritual health. I want to
hang on to anger and resentment, even though it is only killing me on the
inside. Do you get the picture? Sometimes saying “no” to ourselves is the
best thing we could do.
And saying “yes” to Jesus is always the best thing we
could do. Believe it or not, Jesus knows
what is best for us and wants what is best for us. His desire is not to make life miserable for
his followers, but to give his followers true life. This is the promise Jesus attaches to this
command. He said, “For whoever wants to
save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save
it. What good is it for you to gain the
whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?” (Luke 9:24-25).
You see, in following Jesus we find true life. It may mean we have to die to ourselves and
deny ourselves, but in the end we will find our true self and the true life God
created us for. Marketing will tell us
that if we just have this or we just get that, then we will be truly
satisfied. But if you’ve ever gone down
that road, you know it leads to a dead end.
We could gain the whole world and find that it’s not enough. For nothing compares to having a living,
growing relationship with the Creator of the whole world.
So our challenge this week is to find ways to say “no” to
ourselves so we can say “yes” to Jesus.
Does something you want conflict with what he wants for you? Say “yes” to Jesus. Are your plans conflicting with his plans for
you? Say “yes” to Jesus. Do your priorities conflict with his priorities? Say "yes" to Jesus. Is he asking you to do something you’d rather
not do? Say “yes” to Jesus. Every time you have an opportunity, say “yes”
to Jesus. It just might save your life!
Share your comments
and application ideas…
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