“Then he (Jesus) said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.’ ” Luke 9:23-24
This month Christians celebrate the greatest gift ever given to mankind, the birth of Jesus Christ. The reason one can make such a bold statement is that God himself chose to become a human being and sacrifice himself to save us from an eternity in hell (See John 3:16). Why would God do such a thing? I realize he loved us and He wanted us to have eternal life and not die in our sinfulness, but why such a great gift?
God wants us completely, to serve him by leading others to salvation in Christ. God knew that if we would fully grasp the sacrifice Jesus made for us our lives would forever change and that change would be apparent to our neighbors and friends. However, most who call themselves Christians (that is followers of Christ) have not fully embraced the what God did on that first Christmas. Many of us have not demonstrated our relationship with God through changed behavior. Even though we profess that Jesus is Lord and we believe that he really did what the Bible says He did, our hearts have not been changed in such a way as to make Christianity to others. Why haven’t we changed as God wants?
I believe the answer lies in Luke 9:23-24. When Jesus spoke to his disciples about his upcoming execution. He told them, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” If you want to follow Jesus you must first “crucify yourself! You must put your own desires, your own wants aside and obey God only. Jesus wants us to sacrifice ourselves as he did and follow only Him. We have for too long tried to have one foot in the world and one foot in God’s Kingdom and as a result have been luke warm. Our lives have not been radically changed by Jesus because we have tried to play both sides. We have been consumed by the worldly pursuits, job, money, house car, status and have put God’s desires on the back burner. No wonder why being a Christian is unattractive. Most of us don’t look any different that the world.
We are called hypocrites. We preach God’s word with our mouths yet we practice sin in our lives. Many are leaving the Christian faith to pursue New Age spirituality or other feel good religions because they have spent years watching swindling televangelists, child molesting priests and homosexual clergy leading our faith. The divorce rate among Christians is as high as the non-christian world and our use of pornography in many cases exceeds that of non-believers. Our inability to “lose our lives,” in order to walk with the King have rendered us ineffective and made us very unattractive.
A Prayer. Father, help us to see ourselves the way that You see us. Make or reflection repugnant to us. Drive us to our knees Lord and give us the desire to pick up our crosses daily and follow you. Forgive us for our selfishness. Forgive us Father for putting ourselves ahead of the sacrifice your Son made on the cross. Forgive us for making our sinful desires a higher priority than a relationship with you. Forgive us for trying to sabotage your plan of redemption by partnering with the devil in loving the world more than You. Help us Lord to turn ourselves away from all that we know is displeasing to You, In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.
