Posted by: Shirley Smith on Tue, Mar 9, 2021
Luke 9:23
Jesus said to all of them, "If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing to give up their lives daily to follow me" Luke 9:23 (NCV)
The gospel of Jesus is simple, but that doesn't mean it's easy. As Luke records, Jesus said we must be willing to give up our lives daily to follow Him. There's no other plan. No step-by-step directions to follow, no self-help book, no stairway to heaven. It's just the dying, the grave, and the rising. Day after day after day.
Once when I was grousing about something that annoyed me, my mentor said, "It's just another thing to die to." We laughed but then talked seriously about how that's really the attitude faith in Jesus requires. Once I started using Roy's mantra, I found myself saying it several time a day. Turns out there are plenty of opportunities. Everywhere we look there's another thing to die to: another hurt or frustration, another door in the face, another bout of anger or pride, another pang of jealousy. All things must be put to death in me that Christ may live.
The beautiful irony is that it's in those very deaths that life is found. It's where true power lies - true joy. Because the same God who brought Jesus out to the grave reaches down into the tombs where I reside and delivers me from the clutches of my own darkness and fear, my own bad choices, my own laziness, prejudice, and pain. Each time I am buried with Christ, He raises me to walk in resurrected life. Old things have passed away; He is doing something new! - Gwen Ford Faulkenberry
Faith Step: When faced with moments in which you must surrender your will today, say it with me: "Just another thing to die to." Then wait for the rising.
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