Prayer
Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer, loosely based on a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer:
Abba Father,
May I read, learn, and take Your holy Word to heart;
May it challenge, strengthen and comfort me;
May it awaken in me the blessed hope of eternal life,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord –
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your awareness to the voice of God, coming to you through His Word.
Reading
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (NIVUK)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. (NLT)
In ths verse, Jesus commands a profound life-principle for anyone wishing to be His disciple. He makes clear that one is only truly His disciple (v.24), and one can only truly walk in the path of His abundant life (v.25), when one has decided no longer to live for oneself, but to live for Him instead, and to follow Him regardless of the cost.
When Jesus calls us to “deny ourselves”, that is a call to dethrone self, to enthrone Jesus Christ as the Ruler of one’s life, and to make Him the highest love of one’s life. It means to say no to self and yes to Christ in each decision of life. The life of self-denial is the life of continually giving Jesus our, “Yes, Lord!”
Jesus then warns us that we have to be willing to make sacrifices for Him and for His Kingdom. In His words, we will have to “take up our cross.”
Because we have prioritised Jesus as our Ruler, we will have to be willing to serve when and how He calls, and not only when and how we are comfortable doing so. His call, not our comfort, will be the determining factor. Jesus calls us to “Follow Me”. He calls us to a life of constant obedience to Him, in thought, word, and action – regardless of the cost along the way.
But remember, all of this is because He loves us and wants to lead us in the Way of Eternally Abundant Life. This is not Jesus being selfish. This is Jesus inviting us to follow Him in the perfect and beautiful Way of Life that God has always intended for us. He is just being honest with us, that to follow Him, we will have to get off the throne of our own lives once and for all and truly allow Him to rule over us and direct our lives. Only then will we truly live!
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn these declarations over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with our King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ,
- I will deny myself.
- I will take up my cross.
- I will obey Jesus as King.
Holy Spirit, help me to follow Christ courageously in all situations today. Amen.
Dave's Diary 
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