Then He 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 NIV
Think about the beginning and the end of Luke 9:23 KJV. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after Me,” so this is introductory teaching about what it means to follow Jesus. This is not for the mature. It’s not for a certain level of Christian. This is for anyone who would call themselves a follower of Jesus. This is an introduction to what it means to follow Him. “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” It’s not just an introductory lesson about what it means to follow Jesus. It’s an ongoing lesson about what it means to follow Jesus. The implications here are massive. For anyone to come to faith in Jesus means to deny yourself, to die to yourself, take up your cross, to confess your sin before God, to turn from your sin and not just your sin, but from yourself, from your every attempt to earn the favour of God. This is totally trusting in what Jesus did on the cross. It’s turning from our ways, our desires, our thoughts, saying, “Jesus, I’m dying to all of those things.” This is an entirely new life. This is not just to believe some truths and say a prayer and move on with our lives, as we know it. No, this is believing the truth, crying out to God in prayer and losing our lives as we know it, and not just at the beginning, but every single day to do the exact same thing.
PRAYER THOUGHT
Lord, help us to daily deny ourselves as we follow You.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Thank You Lord Jesus for showing us that it is a once off act of believing the truth, crying out to You in prayer and losing our lives as we know it, but every single day to do the exact same thing. AMEN
INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)
Luke 7:1-10
LISTEN TO TODAY’S DEVOTION
If you received our daily emails, please listen to today’s devotion on our website www.ffdl.co.za
On Facebook follow this link to start listening.