“And as there were great crowds going with him, he (Jesus Christ) turned and he said to them:” Luke 14:25
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father, and mother and wife and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” Luke 14:26
After saying this his close followers thinned out considerably to only those few. (John 6:67) the others were only spectators looking for a good deal like someone who might overthrow the Roman government and give them a lucrative contract out of the deal. Does this sound like your church pastor? A successful rich mentor perhaps? “Hang around us and you too can be successful, have a big house and a 120,000 dollar car like me. ”
What about you? When you hear these words that Jesus spoke are you sickened, shocked, disgusted, frightened, angry OR do they make you yearn for the next step, to say, ‘yes Jesus, take me, use me, whatever the cost, I’m yours!’ What do you say when you hear these words? What about you? When you hear the words from a rich fat cat say, “come in the water’s fine!” are you sickened, shocked, disgusted, frightened, angry OR do they make you yearn for the next step to say, ‘yes man, take me, use me, whatever the cost, I’m yours, make me rich like you.’
As Oswald Chambers writes, “In the process of sanctification, the Spirit of God will strip me down until there is nothing left but myself, and that is the place of death. Am I willing to be myself and nothing more? Am I willing to have no friends, no father, no brother, and no self-interest – simply to be ready for death?”
As Paul writes, “To die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) I am crucified with Christ. ” Galatians 2:20 “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 1 Corinthians 1:9
As Saint Augustine writes, “What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not.”
TO DIE IS GAIN?
Any message about death bothers us. We try to ignore even thinking about it. We suspect those who talk about it of being morbid. Occasionally we will talk about what heaven must be like, but most of the time the subject of death is taboo.
How different the first Christians were! Paul spoke much about death. In fact, our resurrection from the dead is referred to in the New Testament as our “blessed hope.” But nowadays, death is considered an intruder that cuts us off from the good life we have been accustomed to. We have so cluttered our lives with material things that we are bogged down with life. The world has trapped us with materialism. We can no longer bear the thought of leaving our beautiful homes, our lovely things, our charming sweethearts. We seem to be thinking, “To die now would be too great a loss. I love the Lord, but I need time to enjoy my real estate. I’m married. I’ve yet to prove my oxen. I need more time.”
Have you noticed there is very little talk, nowadays, about heaven or about leaving this old world behind? Instead, we are bombarded with messages on how to use our faith to acquire more things. What a stunted concept of God’s eternal purposes! No wonder so many Christians are frightened by the thought of death. The truth is, we are far from understanding Christ’s call to forsake the world and all its entanglements. He calls us to come and die, to die without building memorials to ourselves, to die without worrying how we should be remembered. Jesus left no autobiography, no headquarters complex, no university or Bible college. He left nothing to perpetuate his memory, but the bread and the wine. END QUOTE.
The world teaches us to “love our self” It is all about “Self” … Especially in the modern world is esteemed over all else. All forms of psycho therapy focus 0n SELF… self actualization, personal improvement and on and on…
When will you stop the madness and forget self, die to self and give yourself 100 percent to Jesus… I invite you to DO IT NOW! It is as simple as asking Jesus to take you and make you his very own… Try it! The just shall live by faith. Hebrews 10:38
God bless you…