Taking Up My Cross Daily
This is the week of the Cross. Sunday will be Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. However, there had to be a cross before there could be a resurrection. There has to be death before there can be new life. I praise God for the death and resurrection of Jesus, as He died and rose again to provide for our salvation from sin.
Tonight, I want to focus on my cross, though. After all, the cross has meaning for me personally, too. I am to take up my cross daily and follow Christ. (Luke 9:23) How do I do that? What does that mean? I am convinced that it means to die to myself, my old self, and to live in my new self, the self that is reborn in Christ's image. It is to make sure that my old ways do not resurface in my life. It is to have no energy to do my will, only His will. That is what I want, so I take up my cross each day.
I do that in my "unhurried time" with the Lord. That is one reason why every Christian needs to have one and to have it in the morning, if at all possible. If I run out into the day without dying first, my old ways might take over through my flesh. If I take up my cross and die, my flesh has no power. I have denied it. I have put it to death on the cross. Then, I can follow Jesus without hesitation. That is the single-mindedness we spoke of Sunday evening. Without a cross in the morning I could be a double-minded man all day long. God can't bless me if that is the case. It leads to terrible instability in my life, and I end up doing the wrong things.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Samuel 10-12 and Luke 9:37-62.
Tonight, I want to focus on my cross, though. After all, the cross has meaning for me personally, too. I am to take up my cross daily and follow Christ. (Luke 9:23) How do I do that? What does that mean? I am convinced that it means to die to myself, my old self, and to live in my new self, the self that is reborn in Christ's image. It is to make sure that my old ways do not resurface in my life. It is to have no energy to do my will, only His will. That is what I want, so I take up my cross each day.
I do that in my "unhurried time" with the Lord. That is one reason why every Christian needs to have one and to have it in the morning, if at all possible. If I run out into the day without dying first, my old ways might take over through my flesh. If I take up my cross and die, my flesh has no power. I have denied it. I have put it to death on the cross. Then, I can follow Jesus without hesitation. That is the single-mindedness we spoke of Sunday evening. Without a cross in the morning I could be a double-minded man all day long. God can't bless me if that is the case. It leads to terrible instability in my life, and I end up doing the wrong things.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Samuel 10-12 and Luke 9:37-62.