3.3. Self-Sacrifice – 3 of 7 – What is my Purpose and Destiny?

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"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

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Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” – Luk 9:23-26

We are very familiar with hero’s, especially in the movies.I did a search on self sacrifice movies. What is the first one that comes up? Avengers End Game. Hero’s are they guys who normally puts their lives on the line for a cause or people; the ones they love. Iron man said: “Part of the journey is the end”. What is your end game? What and who are you giving your live for? I always ask myself: “Does it have eternal value what I am doing?” There are many worthy causes, but will they matter eternally?

It really comes down to what you believe! If you believe the earth was created out of a soup, nothing really else matters than just to live for yourself and indulge yourself in anything that fancy your liking. My next question to the soup brigade is; where did the soup comes from? Hahaa. Everyone who makes the claims of billions of years ago is guessing anyway. They were not there billions of years ago.

So we might think this wa written for the preachers, but it says “If any man…”. So that levels the playing field, it is applicable to all.

I am thinking of athletes, they always have to deny self otherwise they will be sittig on the couch. The one who deny themselves are the hero’s. So God is really calling us to Be hero’s. Notice Christ in the garden (Matthew 26:36-39, “Not my will, but your will”). Do not give in to moods. It is really that simple, do we want to do God’s will or ours?

Carry the cross. If you were to ask a person in The first century what it meant to carry their cross, what dod you think they understood? It meant they are going to die an excruciating death. So if we want to apply that spiritually it means we have to die to who we are to become the person God wants us to be. It is not naturally so we have to deny ourselves just like an athlete. Mohammed Ali said he only starts to count when it starts hurting. If you want to raise to the top it has to become a daily habit. It is not that different from being a spirtual athlete.

If you want to gain the world forget about being a disciple, you will never make it a d it shows you do not have fait. Lose your life for Jesus … you save it. It is so easy to say I will loose my life, but to do that on a daily basis is not for the feint hearted.

So the question is!!! Will you be proud of Jesus and what he stood for?
Prayer for today:

Lord I love you more than the world, that is why I am prepared to deny myself, take up my cross dail and follow you!!! Amen