Luke 9:23-26 ESV
“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.’”
From Ashes to Beauty
This is what the Christian life is all about. If anyone
tells you differently, they are lying to you. It is NOT all about us and what
God can do for us. It is about Jesus Christ and our lives surrendered to him
for his praise and for his glory. It is about his life now being lived in us
and out through us.
We don’t “get saved” and now we are going to heaven when we
die, but then we can go on living however we want until that time. This is
about dying to sin and to self, not just once, but daily. This is about death
to our old lives so that Jesus Christ can live his life in us and out through
us.
This is about total surrender to Jesus Christ, letting him
have HIS way in our lives and us getting out of the way so that he can work.
And HE does the best work ever. Amen? We make a mess of things when we are the
ones running our own lives. But he turns ashes into beauty.
Saving and Losing
If we have this notion that we can “believe” in Jesus Christ
but that how we live on this earth doesn’t matter because our eternity is now
guaranteed us, then we need to think again. We need to think biblically and not
with the mindset that the people of this world are feeding us.
For, if we do not surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, and
we do not die with him to sin, not just once, but daily, and if we continue on
living in sin, doing what we want to do without regard for what the Lord wants
for us, we are not going to spend eternity with God, no matter what.
But, if we do die with him to sin daily, and if we do live
to him and to his righteousness, not in our own strength, but in the strength
that our Lord provides for those who are his by faith in him, then we have the
hope of eternal life with God. We can be certain of our eternal destiny.
Are We Ashamed?
Now, I may step on some toes here, and that is alright, but
why is it that Christians can talk with others about everything but Jesus
Christ unless they are at church? I am on social media to share the life of
Jesus with others, and I find that the majority of Christians on there never
mention Jesus.
I find that the vast majority of those who call themselves
Christians talk no differently with their friends than do the people who make
no professions of Jesus Christ. They watch all the same junk (though not
everything is junk), and they listen to all the same stuff and play the same
games, etc.
There is not much of a distinction between Christians and
non-Christians these days, and that should not be. And this includes pastors
who are on social media talking about the same junk as everyone else and never
sharing a Scripture or talking with people about Jesus.
He Will Be Ashamed of Us
Please understand this, for this is critical. If we are
ashamed to talk about Jesus with our friends and acquaintances, and we would
rather just talk about the same junk the world is talking about, because we are
more interested in people liking us, then Jesus will be ashamed of us.
If we deny him by our words and by our lifestyles, he will
deny us. If the fruit we have to show is the fruit of the world, and if our
lifestyles are the same as those of the world, then when Jesus returns for his bride,
we won’t go to be with him for eternity.
For whatever we sow on this earth we will reap for eternity.
If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap corruption
(destruction, death). But if we sow to please the Spirit, we will reap eternal
life. For what does it profit us if we gain the whole world, and we lose or
forfeit ourselves?
Full
Release
An
Original Work / April 15, 2012
Walking daily with my Savior
brings me joy.
Loving Father; precious Jesus;
He’s my Savior and my Lord.
Gently leads me; follow Him.
I’ve invited Him within.
Now abiding in His presence,
oh, what peace.
From my self-life
He has brought me,
By His mercy, full release.
Hope and comfort,
peace and safety Jesus brings
When I daily bow before Him;
Obey freely; do His will.
Follow Him where’er He leads.
Listen to Him; His words heed.
Now obeying his words fully,
oh, what love
That He gives me
through salvation,
By His Spirit, from above.
Loving Father; precious Jesus,
He’s my friend.
With my Savior, by His Spirit,
I will endure to the end.
Share the gospel, tell what’s true.
Witness daily; His will do.
Tell the world of how their Savior
bled and died.
On a cruel cross He suffered
So that we might be alive.
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