The way of the cross that have been neglected today and if you do a research on believers on what they understand about the subject, you’ll discover that most believers have no clue on what it means, and many have never even heard that there is such a way that is described in the new testament. This is the reason there is shallowness in most believers lives; there is no lasting joy and peace.
Jesus said that the joy which he offered, no man could take it away, John 16:22. If we stop for a moment and think, how many things that people have done to us and because of that thing we lost our joy? We see that not many believers have truly experienced the joy that Christ offers. He also promised to give us peace that is different from the one the world offers; the peace that the world offers is one which is only present when everything is going on well but is disturbed when calamity or loss or injury occurs. Jesus offers us a peace that nothing can disturb, whether a loss, or calamity or eveil done against us by others; there is nothing external done against us that can disturb the peace Christ offers. John 14:27
This life is not offered to everyone; but note that these promises were promised only to the disciples and therefore it is only disciples who can experience such a life.
So who is a disciple? It is not one who repeats the sinner’s prayer. A disciple according to Jesus is one who loves Jesus more than father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children and even his life. One who has forsaken all his possessions, denys himself and carries his cross daily. Mat 10:37,38; Luke 9:23; 14:26,33
What does this mean in simple terms?
To love Jesus more than father, mother, brother, sister, children means that whenever you have a choice of pleasing Jesus or any of the mentioned above, you’ll always chose to displease your family members and please Jesus. You are always ready to displease everyone if that’s the only way to please Jesus.
Loving Jesus more than yourself is even hard; the devil even said to God concerning Job, than a man will give everything he has for his life, Job 2:4. If you greatly desire something and you discover that that is not Gods will for you; you will give it up. For example, a young man may greatly desire to marry a girl and may have even imagine himself in the near future have a family and the intended girl being the wife, but after much time seeking God concerning the matter, he may discover that God has different plans for His life and that that is not the girl God wants him to marry. There, the young man has to choose between God and his own desires. A true disciple will always choose God against himself.
A disciple must also forsake his possessions. Possessions are thing that possess us. For example, when Abraham had Isaac, God said to him, take your son, the only son, the one you love most and sacrifice him. here, he possessed Isaac but later when he came back, he had Isaac but did not possess him. it is the same today, we must forsake all that we have; i.e. whatever we have or is in our name, we must hold on an open palm such that whenever God may require it from us, we will freely and easily give it away. Therefore, anything in our name which we are not willing to give up if God requires it, is our possession and we must forsake it; i.e. be willing to give it away anytime God may require it.
In the next study we are going to see more of this
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