Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Luke 9 and Psalm 25

²³ Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

Simply put, the gateway into the eternally abundant life that Jesus came to give us (John 10:10) is the once-and-for-all decision that we trust Jesus as the Lord and Leader of our lives (Ephesians 2:8). But, walking down the pathway of the full experience of that eternally abundant life on a daily basis is dependent on the ongoing decision to live the surrendered life that Jesus described in these verses.

The eternally abundant life is lived out by denying the constant claims of self-interest and selfish desire, which will lead us only into a small, meaningless, impactless life of temporal pleasure and gratification; and of surrendering wholeheartedly to the self-sacrifical pursuit of Jesus and His will for our everyday lives.

The LORD certainly does have a uniquely grand and wonderful plan for your life. The good news is that to live into that plan, you don’t even have to be able to envisage or understand what it looks like in the end. Instead, that plan is lived out in tiny, moment-by-moment decisions to lay down one’s self and step out in obediently following Jesus.

Life Application: Ask the Lord to show you one small act of obedience you can deliberately pursue today. Having heard from Him, make a conscious decision that, no matter the cost, you will obey and follow His direction. Remember, those who want to be Jesus’ disciple must deny themselves and take up their crosses daily and follow Him. Let’s do that today and experience for ourselves the truth that whoever loses their life for Jesus will ultimately find it.