Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." - (Luke 9:23-26)
If anyone would come after me, he MUST deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and FOLLOW ME. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let this sink into your hearts. This passage tells you what it takes to be a Christian, a follower of The Way.
So you may ask, how do I 'deny myself'? Well, its simple. To be in tune with the will of God, we must first deny our own will COMPLETELY. In other words, any selfish ambition, or should I say anything that we do that does not glorify God, needs to be cast away. Be careful, when I say that we are to give up our own will completely, this does not mean throw away everything we own as some may interpret but rather, in all that we do whether it is our career, studies, friends, etc we must commit it first and foremost and WHOLLY to the Lord so it is the Lord's will we are doing and not our own.
For example, someones will may be to try his best to get rich in money and wealth. However, this may not be the Lord's personal will for this particular. So we have conflict. This individual has a different ambition to what God has planned for him. Instead of being a follower of Jesus, he has become a follower of his own ambition. As Christians mature, we come to realize that the earthly possessions of this world are insignificant to us. Can such insignificant things please our souls? We already know for a fact that the Lord will provide for us if we first seek His kingdom and His righteous. It is up to Him with regards to how much He wants to give us, whether it be great or small, but what we are ASSURED is that He provides will be more than sufficient.
Then we have another case. Another individual's will may be trying to get rich so that one day he can give money to the poor and help the needy. This could very well be the will that God has for someone else, but lets say in this case, it isn't the Lord's personal will for THIS PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL. God may have different plans for him. His intentions might be good, but he is not doing what His Father has wanted him to do. He has not denied himself but rather followed his own ambitions. Lets say this person ended up becoming rich on his own ambition and left his previous company becoming CEO of another company. God's will might for this individual may have been "I want you to acquaint with the gentleman on the floor 5 of your previous company and preach the gospel to him". How can this occur now that the individual works in a different building? This example I have used emphasizes that each person has an individualized will from our Father. We will all be equipped differently, whether it may be spiritual gifts, wealth and possessions etc. Ours is not to look at each others spiritual/physical possessions but rather be attentive to the individualized will our Father has for us. To do this, we must deny our own ambitions and pray for the Lord to guide us in our actions, decisions etc. so that through whatever we do, it is what He has willed for us. Make the best of every situation that you have been put in.
"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let NOTHING move you. ALWAYS give yourselves FULLY TO THE WORK OF THE LORD, because YOU KNOW that your labor in the Lord is NOT IN VAIN." (1 Corinthians 15:58)
The bible is clear that we should always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord as we know that such work will please our Father. This is what you can call taking up your cross, living a life for the sake of our Father. Stand firm brothers and sisters. This isn't some easy battle. Remember, we don't battle with the physical world in which our eyes can see. Rather, we are battling at the front line against the unseen, spiritual world. However, when we have placed Christ as our Lord and Savior, victory is assured! To give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord means committing EVERY aspect of our lives to the Lord such as our study, our career, friends, family etc.
For example, one who is studying should have prayed to the Lord to guide them by the Holy Spirit to discern and choose the career path that the Lord wants them to do so that though this career path, they may glorify Him in the workplace. And when they have finally graduated and begun their working career, their concern is to ask the Lord, "equip me sufficiently so that I can serve you in the workplace and win the hearts of many so that they too might know You." We have to question our motives. Do we prefer to have a life in which we solely make decisions ourselves, or would we rather have someone greater, our Father who knows all, guide us with the Holy Spirit he has given us to guide us in our decision making? Why do you worry so much? Do you think that the trials you face are too big for the Lord to take care off? Of course not!
"NEVER BE LACKING IN ZEAL, BUT KEEP YOUR SPIRITUAL FERVOR, SERVING THE LORD." (Romans 12:11)
Never lack in zeal when serving the Lord. Putting it simply, if you do not find any joy while you serve the Lord and following His commands, then I encourage you to re-examine yourself and ask whether you are really taking up your cross daily, or maybe you are one that has backslid and wants to come back to Jesus or maybe you are one who has abandoned the faith as it was just too hard to follow Christ. There is ALWAYS joy in serving the Lord, even though it may not be easy at times.
Some may say, I don't have time to do the work of the Lord. My friend, EVERYTHING you do is your ministry. Commit your life completely to the Lord, whether it may be in your family, study, career, prayer/cell group, church, your friends, your work colleagues, customers/clients you may serve etc. In the workplace for example, one's job may be to be obedient to their boss which of course is pleasing to the Lord. The hardworking and obedient Christian may win the heart of his boss through his Christ-like behavior in the workplace. Likewise, one's job may be a boss of a company. Looking after his employees with love, gentleness, mercy and compassion would also be pleasing to the Lord. This Christian too may then win the heart of his employees through his Christ-like behavior.
When you meet up with your friends, do they see good fruit in you? If your fruit is bad, do you think that they will see Jesus living in you? NOT A CHANCE! When you are not doing the will of the Lord, but rather trying to please your own worldly desires, you have not taken up your cross but instead chose to live for yourself! This is NOT following Jesus! A Christian when he goes out with his friends should be concerned with the Lord's affairs instead of trying to 'fit in with the crowd'. Certainly, he should have an enjoyable time going out with his friends, but his mindset should be something like this, "How am I going to act/react to my friends so that they may see Jesus in me?" And they should pray to the Father before they speak to their friends, praying that they will not speak words of foolishness, words of a coarse/vulgar/obscene nature, but rather Godly words. And of course praying to the Lord to give them the opportunity to display acts of love, compassion and kindness to their friends so that they might receive just even a glimpse of God, if that is what the Lord is willing at that particular moment. As you can see, such mindset like this is concerned with the Lord's affairs more than their own. This is just one example of denying self and taking up your cross. You are not trying to please yourself but rather your Father. And when you do this, your labor in the Lord will certainly not be in vain!
We must follow God's commands given to us in His Word through every aspect of our lives, for this is what is pleasing and good to Him and also to the people around us. It isn't possible to do the will of the Father if we do not keep His commands as that in itself is going against His will and we know that such rebellion will lead to destruction and sorrow to those around us as well as ourselves.
So my dear friends in Christ, have you denied yourself, are you taking up your cross daily and following Jesus?
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