You lose your life for Him! Scripture tell us: “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me…” LUKE 9:23 or in the Amplified Bible: “And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” A little more sobering when read from the Aplified, isn’ it?

Deny yourself

Denying yourself is the hardest thing a person can do, yet it is beautiful in it’s simplicity. How so? You put God first in all that you say, do, think, and feel. He becomes First Cause of everything that you are. You deny the petty, and seemingly not so petty, desires of the heart, the yearnings of the soul, and the dreams of your life. You give all of that to Him.

And He gives you — everything!

My best friend Jim Wright has a gift from God, he is always able to say a paragraph (or more) of insightful truth in a sentence or less. He once told me that God doesn’t give us what we want, He gives us what we need; if all we need is God, then we get all we want! Simple. So what do you want? Whatever it is give it to the Lord. We are good at giving Him our pains, sorrows, hurts, wounds, and all the other things we don’t want in our lives.

How about we give Him ourselves.

All the good things we want, all the things we think are good, every desire to do better, to be the blessing, to love and cherish those around us, to do that which pleases Him, give Him those things as well. Then He becomes First Cause, He becomes the foundation of our lives and the filter of our actions. He becomes the standard we strive to live up to, and the Master that we follow.

In this way we honor Him with our very existence, and we deny the carnal man from expressing in our lives. We in essence have denied ourselves, in order to glorify God. We can in no measure give back to God what He has given us — the gift was too great. But when we honor Him we validate the sacrifice He made for us, we will walk in the power of the blood, the living sacrifice He so lovingly gave us on the cross.

Take up your cross DAILY

Taking up our cross is actually doing the works Christ did, and are admonished to do. It is not to be compared in any way to the level of His giving, but it is our love response to Him. We help in the work to release the captives of sin, we help in being the example of a living faith, we become, in our small humble, way a helper in redeeming the world. He does the work, we simply open the door and let Him in.

Our cross does not sacrifice us, as the children of God, but sacrifices the carnal man (the enemy of God) that we were before His saving Grace. Our cross may be a simple thing or a big one (depending on the circumstances) but that cross is the road of glory that leads us to the throne. It purifies US, and helps those who we touch. In this way we truly become the “royal priesthood, a peculiar (different) people and an holy nation”. We become His remant that He can use to save the lost out in a sinful world.

Our cross holds that much power — because of Him

Then, and only then, can we follow Him. It is a path He blazed, our path of faith, and the only path that will take us home. We use the gift of our salvation, and glorify the God of all things in our obedience. It has been said that obedience is the highest form of love — and we should love Him. Love Him with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength. Now He has become the cornerstone of our lives, because we love Him.

This is the only acceptable gift to God — us!

Come after me and follow

A command? Yes. But also an entreaty that changes us, purifies us, and makes us His. In Romans 8:17 it states “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together…” Note it states “IF we suffer with Him” and then, and only then, we are glorified with Him and receive our inheritance. He WANTS us to do that! He wants us to be with Him. He wants us.

This is our thanks to Him, made real in our lives. It is in this gratitude that we are conformed into Christ’s image, and the glory that is His. It is in the overcomming of all the trials, tribulations, temptations, and tests in this fallen world, that gives wings to our faith. Following Him expresses our thanksgiving as this was His example here on earth. Remember the Lord always gave thanks to the Father for all things, because it was a way “to glorify the Father”.

So you are the thanks for a life given, a life sacrificed that your (and my) sins would be washed away. That we could then travel the road of faith, and like the prodigal son, return home into His loving arms. No human gift is able to match the gift given on the cross, but our love, our obedience and our desire to follow Him (all love for God), is accepted by Him and glorifies Him. No other gift can.

So how do you say thanks to SOMEONE who was brutally killed on your behalf?

By losing our lives for Him, in loving release and joy — and He will accept our gift!

Be blessed, be loved and be at peace,

Jonathan

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