Title Daily Discipleship / Luke 14:25-35
Contents
If you were to promote the Christian life, you would often refer to happiness or prosperity. But the life of a true Christian is far from that. The Lord said that those who cannot deny themselves, who cannot take up their cross, and who do not follow Him cannot become true disciples of the Lord. We want to learn how to be a disciple of Jesus in our daily life.
1. "deny himself"
Denying oneself does not mean giving up the right to live or giving up everything in life. True self-denial is acknowledging that salvation cannot be attained on one's own, and comes only by the grace of God. It also means submitting one's will and all logic to the will of God. A life of self-denial is to forsake one's idols and the things we love more than God. On the other hand, those who deny themselves are those who can stop complaining and give thanks for all the grace God has given them. A person who lives a God-first, God-centered life and has made God the purpose, meaning, and everything of life is a person who denies himself and walks the steps of a true disciple of Jesus.
2. "Take up your cross"
The cross means death. The life of bearing one's cross is not the level of enduring hard work well and enduring pain, but a life of completely killing one's old self. You have to kill the old people, but you have to kill them continuously, not just a one-time experience of the past. It should also be done voluntarily. There are times when we say that we are making a dedication, but we are trying to give to God with what we have or with something else. But in order to become a disciple of Christ, above all, we must be able to give ourselves completely to God. This is the cross-bearing life.
3. "You will follow me"
The Lord said, "Follow me," and told the story of a man who builds a tower and a man who goes to war. He was saying that when we try to become disciples of Jesus, we cannot follow only with a purpose. Therefore, the 'life of carrying the cross' is the concrete way to follow the Lord. Jesus emptied himself, took the form of a servant, became like men, and endured the cross, looking forward to the glory of the resurrection. Jesus Christ is the object of our faith and the model of our lives. The Lord demanded of us obedience (Mark 10:1-16) and perfect sacrifice (Mark 10:17-31). We should look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and follow his life.
Let me conclude.
Grace and blessing will follow those who become disciples of Jesus who deny themselves by living a God-centered life, die and take up the cross as a living and holy sacrifice, and fully follow the Lord through obedience, faith and devotion. First, the abundance of life. Those who live with Jesus Christ, who became life, will live even if they die and will enjoy the blessing of eternal life. Second, you will enjoy a joy that the world does not seem to give. That joy is the joy you get when you live according to the will of God. Third, you will have a heart of gratitude for everything. The present age is the age of forgetting thanksgiving and the age of forgetting God even after gaining grace, but the disciples of Christ have a heart of contentment. Fourth, you will live a meaningful life with a sense of duty just like salt that gives flavor. As a true disciple of Christ, I hope that you will enjoy all these graces and blessings every day.