Saturday, February 12, 2022

Deny and Follow

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

DENY AND FOLLOW

Matt 16:24-28

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 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 he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." 

NIV

These words of Jesus have been taken or rather interpreted several ways. Either way, Jesus is speaking prophetically, however, as to how far in the future is the question that causes some to see his words differently. It does seem that Jesus is quoting or at least referring to what Daniel saw in his vision, which any good Jew would know. But first, we should deal with this idea of wanting to follow Jesus and how we must deny ourselves and take up our cross to do that. What does it mean to deny ourselves? Does that mean we should not want anything? We dare say that is not the meaning. Self is the core of our being, and it has more to do with relying on self, rather than on Christ. Self-reliance is a dangerous condition, especially when it comes to saving our lives. What good is chasing after the things of the world if they do not provide us with life? In fact, seeking after the world instead of Jesus will cause us to forfeit our souls. Now, the question remains regarding if we can do both. Can we deny ourselves, stop this self-reliance and follow Jesus while we are trying to obtain everything we want by our own self-determination? That is simply bizarre to even say it out loud or for that fact, even think it. It does not seem easy to deny our selfish pursuits, because as a norm in our culture or society, we want what we want and we usually find some way to get what we want and in some cases, we want more, bigger, better, or newer than what we currently have. If we are living like that, it does not appear we deny ourselves of anything to follow Jesus. Oh, sure we might think we deny sinning, in some sense. We might think that if we do not steal, murder, commit adultery, or some other crime, living sort of uprightly, abiding by the law of the land, except of course, in our cars, speeding away, we are being a “Good Christian”. Of course, that includes getting ourselves to church on Sunday morning. But is that truly what Jesus meant about taking up our cross and following him? If we deny ourselves, give up on our selfish ambitions, and submit ourselves to which God has appointed us and that might include bearing with certain situations, even difficulties we might meet within walking the Christ-like or Christian Road. The state of our lives or our destiny is either in our own hands or in the hands of God, for we cannot serve two masters, self and God. We cannot straddle the fence either, trying to live according to the will of God while making our own way in the world, having one foot in Christ, and the other in the world. Sure, we need a certain amount of creature comforts this world has to offer. We need a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, and a few other things we need in this society, like a car to get to work, etc. However, Jesus has told us to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and he would make sure we would have the things we need in this world to live out our days until he comes for us. It is all about setting self aside and relying completely on Jesus. Sure, we could just spiritualize it, and say it has only to do with trying to save our own soul or lives, and that we must deny that thinking and realize that Jesus is the only one who can save our souls.  Yet, he deals with both issues, our souls, and our earthy lives. 

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