If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. — Matt. 16:24-25
Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. — Mark 1:17
I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. — John 8:12
Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. — Matt. 8:22
If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me .— Matt. 19:21
(note: for a free copy of the book and workbook, see link on left)
4 comments:
"...take up his cross and follow me..."
Contemplating that demand deeply, meditating it, pondering it, brooding over it......
Do we even begin to understand? It's meaning? It's reality? It's love?
Follow Me!! I am thankful for Peter and his selfish.. bull in a china shop ways...reminds me of someone I know well...humm now who could that be...NTE...are his initials...but I am always and forever thankful to the Master's faithful mercy laden respones to Peters questions. "Keep your eyes off everybody and everything just..Just..JUst..JUSt..JUST FOLLOW ME...follow Jesus JUST FOLLOW JESUS...HIM and HIM alone may that be our pray and desire to seek to know what that really means. To Him our King our Saviour to Him be the glory!!
I admit it, ok. I have blind spots and it hurts sometimes when I finally wake up and realize another one.
But remember, I can't recognize my own blind spots. They have to be pointed out to me.
So....here goes.
I have not begun to realize, until this week, what Jesus meant by "take up 'your' cross..."
"Deny myself?" Yea, maybe I got an inclination of that part.
But anytime I've read or heard 'cross' I've thought about Jesus' cross. The one He died on.
But pondering Matthew 16:24-25 this week, I kept thinking 'take up his cross?' After the 3rd or 4th time, I finally started looking at what others have had to say.
And I always get confused with the capital when "his" is capitalized or not (or "he" vs "He").
So, I looked up what others have to say about this "take up his cross."
John MacArthur's study Bible refers you to the notes at Matthew 10:38; I quote "Here is Jesus' first mention of the word 'cross' to His disciples. To them it would have evoked a picture of a violent, degrading death. He was demanding total commitment from them - even unto physical death - and making this call to full surrender a part of the message they were to proclaim to others. This same call to life-or-death devotion to Christ is repeated in 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27. For those who come to Christ with self-renouncing faith, there will be true and eternal life (v.39).
Oh....take up my cross; "my" cross; Danny take up Danny's cross. The thought those disciples must have had! To think about taking up a cross, dying on it! Not just for them, for me.
Ok, that's different. That's commitment.
This is a good time to circle back through the 1st 7 demands.
For help on getting a grip on who Jesus is and why all of this is so important, go to www.desiringgod.org and click on the September 21, 2008 sermon.
Also, a couple of great questions from the workbook to ponder this fine Saturday:
1. What types of “ruptures” has or would following Jesus create for you?
2. How is God moving on your heart now?
You can read more about 'ruptures' on pages 72 & 73 of the book. And don't forget the free download. No reason, or excuse to have to go and find the book, it's right here on your computor!
:-)
I try to pay particular attention to the verses about eternal life and salvation. Seems to me if we miss the bar on the "big" verses, then we have missed everything.
Jesus captures my attention when he links taking up my cross and eternal life.
Luke 9:23ff 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?
This a big deal and it haunts me. To me it means that Jesus is only my Savior when Jesus is my Lord, my commander, the one in charge. If I am willing to follow him to death, then I am His and He is mine. It doesn't mean that I must do anything ... it just means that I'm willing to do anything that He asks. In a very real moment by moment meaning, it means that my life is up to Him now, not me.
This must be what it means to "keep in step with the Spirit" or "walk in the Spirit". The moment by moment implications of this are staggering.
BUT I must remember that it is not how well that that I deny myself but am I WILLING to deny myself in all things - even of life.
Wow ... I am looking forward to eternity in heaven.
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