*EXCELLENT LIFE KEYS* 🔑🗝️
Mon/24th/Oct/2022
*Francis Reign* (Ap & Coach)
_"Raising excellent agents of change and transformation, well equipped with Truth and Wisdom."_
*UNDERSTANDING THE ACTS AND WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST (185)*
_Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it"_ (Matthew 16:24-25). Let's begin with what Jesus didn't mean. Many people interpret _"cross"_ as some burden they must carry in their lives: a strained relationship, a thankless job, a physical illness, etc. With self-pitying pride, they say, "That's my cross I have to carry." Such an interpretation is not what Jesus meant when He said, "Take up your cross and follow Me." When Jesus carried His cross up Golgotha to be crucified, no one was thinking of the cross as symbolic of a burden to carry. To a person in the first-century, the cross meant one thing and one thing only: _Death by the most painful and humiliating means human beings could develop._
Two thousand years later, Christians view the cross as a cherished symbol of atonement, forgiveness, grace, and love. But in Jesus' day, the cross represented nothing but torturous death. Because Romans forced convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of crucifixion, bearing a cross meant carrying their own execution device while facing ridicule along the way to death. Therefore, "Take up your cross and follow Me" means being willing to die in order to follow Jesus. This is called *_"dying to self."_* It's a call for absolute surrender to Jesus. Although the call is tough, the reward is matchless. Following Jesus is easy when life runs smoothly; our true commitment to Him is revealed during trials and when He makes sacrificial demands from us. Jesus assured us that trials will come to His followers (John 16:33). Discipleship demands sacrifice, and Jesus never hid that cost.
If there comes a time in your life where you are faced with a choice - Jesus or the comforts of this life - which one will you choose? The reward is worth the price. Jesus followed His call of death to self ("Take up your cross and follow Me") with the gift of life in Christ: _"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."_ Surrender to Jesus without reservations. That's the only way to live a fulfilled life on earth.
*EXCELLENCE KEY* 🗝️
_"Take up your cross and follow Me" means being willing to die to self. It's a call for absolute surrender to Jesus. The call is tough, but the reward is matchless._
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*Excellence is within you. Bring it out >>*
#1574 ELK.
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