Am I a Disciple of Jesus?
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
So many of us want the promises, the rewards, and the gifts of Jesus. However, we seem to miss the key to receiving them. Are we a true disciple of Jesus Christ? Of course, many of us will quickly say yes without hesitation. However, maybe we should hesitate just for a moment to find out what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? A disciple of Jesus is one who denies himself, takes up his cross, and follows Jesus. We think it is great to follow Jesus and we try to but without denying ourselves to do the will of the Father, it is impossible to follow Jesus. We will always find ourselves fighting with what we want and what God wants. I was at a church service a few years ago and the pastor told his congregation lift up their envelopes and ask God to give them that big house, that new Lexus and Mercedes, and the high paying job they’ve always wanted. We really need to get our prayers and priorities in order. There are people hurting out there in bad situations slowly perishing away while we sit in church trying to gratify our wicked flesh. Jesus didn’t die on a cross so we could feed our flesh. He didn’t die for us to have more stuff. He died to bring salvation and redemption to a dead and dull world; a world that is so full of darkness that it can’t even recognize it is slowly but surely digging it’s own grave; a world where instead of sin prevention, it practices sin tolerance and acceptance. We are destroying ourselves. We desperately need to come back to the Word of God. Now more than ever, we need to learn what it means to pick up our cross to do the will of the Father; a simple will to believe in Jesus Christ so we can gladly follow Him.