Thursday, 10 December, 2020

And whoever comes to me must follow in my steps and be willing to share my cross and experience it as his own, or he cannot be considered to be my disciple. All who seek to live apart from me will lose it all. But those who let go of their lives for my sake and surrender it all to me will discover true life!
Matthew 10:38‭-‬39 TPT

Sometimes people think Christianity is just excitement and happiness all year round. Many times the things that make us grow in God come from circumstances that are very uncomfortable.
Becoming more like Jesus is being able to share the cross experience With him. But what exactly happens on the cross?
On the cross, you lose your life in order to bury the old and be able to embrace the new. We can never fully enjoy and have all we need in unchanged vessels.

The cross is the place of surrender. Its a place of complete yieldeness to the Father. Where we allow Him to take away what is important to us in order to have what is essential for our Spiritual growth.

At the cross, we lose our personal interests. We die to self. We die to the desires that easily gratify us. We die to all desires of the flesh and embrace the life of the Spirit.

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."
- Galatians 5:16 (KJV)

When we die to self, we are then able to live in the Spirit. Taking up the cross is something we have to do everyday.

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
- Galatians 5:25 (KJV)

Studying the Scriptures only gets us to one idea: Life is Spiritual.
Here Jesus asks us to do something that isn't exactly easy. It takes supernatural strength to walk in all the statutes of the Lord.
But Jesus says something worth repeating here. He says, "All who seek to live apart from me will lose it all."
How can Jesus say this? Is it possible to live life without Jesus? No it isn't!

The very life we have belongs to Jesus. He gives us life. But He gives everyone a chance to accept Him.

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men."
- John 1:4 (KJV)

In Him was life. And His life was the life of men. Jesus is our life. Without Jesus, life is just pointless and without value.
Let's finish up with the words of Jesus. Jesus then says, "But those who let go of their lives for my sake and surrender it all to me will discover true life!"
At the cross, we surrender our lives to Jesus. We give Him our anxieties. We give Him our pain. We give Him all our entanglements. We let go of everything and allow His person into our very own.

What are you willing to let go today?

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,"
- Philippians 3:8 (KJV)

Paul found out that Jesus is worth losing everything for. He discovered the life of surrender. And for what?
So that He could win Christ. We lose everything to gain Christ.

In the name of Jesus, glorious Father we thank you. We glorify you. We magnify you as King. Lord, help us to surrender our will, our goals and ambitions that we may gain Christ. Help us to see that seeking you is truly the best thing that could happen to us. Lord, may you give us fresh revelations of who you are so that we seek you more persistently. Thank you for answering our prayers. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.