Scripture – “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.”
Matthew 16:24-27 NIV
Observation – Jesus is teaching his disciples, as he did in Matthew Chapter 6, that our calling, as followers of Jesus, is to put God’s will ahead of our own. He asks them the question, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” Think about that, this is what some people to do every day. They focus almost all of their attention on building their kingdom, knowing that they are going to get old and die leave everything they have worked for to someone else.
Application – The question for you and me is, “what would change about how we invest our days if we were to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus?” This question is worthy of your time, the consequences are significant – saving your life or losing it. Take some time to ponder this. If you are reading this and haven’t not surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and accepted him as your Lord and Savior this is the first step. If you are a follow of Jesus examine how you are spending your time and put Jesus first.
Prayer – Dear Jesus, this is difficult but you give wisdom, knowledge, understanding and insight to those who ask and seek you with all their heart. I pray that people want to make their lives count outside of wealth and pleasure. Thank you for that. Amen.
What are you doing? Do it better 