"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. whoever saves his life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.'"
WOW HUGE PASSAGE
Throughout his life on earth, Christ suffers and shows his disciples what it truly means to suffer. Now it is his turn to tell them they must go through this as well.
The very first part here it says, "whoever wants to be my disciple"...well what is a disciple
Wikipedia says," A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor (in this case jesus), teacher, or wise figure.
So whoever wants to actively learn about Jesus and constantly be searching in how to be like him and follow his ministry
In latin the word disciple is discipulus meaning "a learner". It is a self-identification for those who are searching to learn about jesus and his ministry MUST (have to) (required to) (mandatory to) deny themselves and take up their cross....HUH?
how do i deny myself?
Deny the temptaions of Satan
Put Christ's life and purpose before your own
Put your life in his hands and follow his will accordingly
Deny your own selfish ambitions for his worthy ones
What does it mean to take up my cross?
the cross here is all persecutions all suffering all pain all hardships that come with being a Christ follower. Each of us has our own cross own difficulties that we must endure, but we need ot go through it. Take heart, reconciliation comes when we take up the cross like Christ did for us. like one of my friends says, "suck it up sally" We need to get over the fear of rejection and suffering for Christ, and realize what we got is better than anything they do. We have the ticket to the kingdom of God.
Follow me-search for him...walk the straight path. The scriptures say wide is the path but narrow the gate...Jesus walks right through it ahead of us, but we must follow; keep our eyes planted on him because he knows the way and is leading us towards it.
Whoever saves his life will lose it
If we work to save our lives here on earth it will be by sin because the world finds joy and life in corruption and things that are not of Jesus. Then because of our sin here on earth we will miss out on the eternal joy God will bring to us eternally.
Whoever loses his life for me will find it.
If we become disciples of Christ and dedicate ourselves to following Christ and his paths by taking up our cross and denying ourselves we will find the true life Christ describes. We will find a life here on earth that is filled with passion and purpose and love, and we will enjoy an eternity in a place where there is no pain or suffering. We may be hated may lose everything that is of value to those in this world, but this life lost allows for a new and eternal life with God.
God,
I pray that I would live my life with an eternal perspective. that everything I do wouldn't be to satisfy my life here but would be for eternal impact. God you are a good God and you lead us in the direction we need to go, I just pray that I would follow you with all that I am and pass through that narrow gate right behind you.
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