What part
of us should die daily?
1Co
15:31 … I die daily.
Death to
Selfishness. Death to Self-serving.
Denying
ourselves- what part of us are we denying in order to take up the cross of
Christ and follow Him?
Luk
9:23 …let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow
me.
What is
this cross we must take? How are we to
follow Christ to be worthy of Him?
Mat
10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not
worthy of me.
The
commandments of God are summed up like this by Jesus- God with us-
Mat
22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat
22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat
22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat
22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself.
Mat
22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Loving God
with ALL our heart.
Loving God
with ALL our soul.
Loving God
with ALL our mind.
Do we?
Look into your heart and lay it bare right now. Open your heart before God and
search for a moment, what is in there? Who is in your heart, what is in your
heart? We put other people in our hearts- but aren't we supposed to? We are
told the second commandment of ranking is loving others as we would be loved.
To love they have to be in our heart, don't they? The answer is truthfully yes
and no. Let me try to explain.
God must
be first in our heart- we must love HIM with ALL of our heart and that leaves
what left over? Nothing. It is ONLY when we do love God with ALL our heart are
we able to love others WITH that very same love, God's love.
We
surrender our all to God and out of that surrender He will enable us to live as
He wills. We won't be loving with our own imperfect love that is riddled with
flaws, but we will love with God's love and HIS love is perfect. God's love can
love what we deem most unlovable. God's love will continue to love through
many, many betrayals- we as human beings have turned our backs on God time and
time again, yet He still loves us.
God's love
has provided hope.
God's love
will in truth destroy utterly into non-existence those who cannot love. It is
that love which knows all the people who choose not to love would never be
content if forced to live in that love offered. No forced love, no forced will,
no forced hope, God allows each of us to choose- daily.
There is
no one-time only choice and you are forever held to that choice regardless of
all circumstances.
The
initial choice is allowing the life-long commitment to be possible. As soon as
you choose to allow God to have all your heart, soul and mind you are choosing
to love Him. The forgiveness you find through the sacrifice of His only
begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, allows us to love.
Because
you do not stop thinking, breathing, functioning as you've always done up to
that point, you will be prone to temptations that will want to draw you away
from God, not towards Him. Daily a renewed commitment must be made. You don't
simply stop after baptism, you don't stop after the newness wears away. Every
day RECOMMIT your life to God. EVERY DAY. Wake up and choose every day to exalt
God above all other things in your life no matter what they are- and love Him
with all your heart, mind and soul. Seek forgiveness as soon as you recognize
any other entering your heart before Him. Put God before all, and love others
with HIS love.
Rom_5:5
…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us.
I asked
above-
What part
of us should die daily?
1Co
15:31 … I die daily.
Death to
Selfishness. Death to Self-serving.
Denying
ourselves- what part of us are we denying in order to take up the cross of
Christ and follow Him?
Luk
9:23 …let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow
me.
What is
this cross we must take? How are we to
follow Christ to be worthy of Him?
What part
of us should die every single day? Our life outside of God. Truly all we do
should be to His glory and not our own in any way. That cross we must take up
is the knowledge we are choosing a path less traveled, a path that will have us
making choices the world will not want us to make. In fact the self-serving
part of us is going to fight against putting God first in every way it
can.
Can you
put another person before all your own wants and needs? Yes, I said needs. Or
do you think or say things like, I need to do this before I can help you with
that. My need is just as great as yours. I need to take care of me first. Again
I ask, can you put another person before ALL your own wants and needs? If called to do so, could another person come
before your preferred way of life? And by preferred way of life I mean- doing
the things that make you most comfortable, most content, most at ease. Will you
choose others before your own ideas of how you want your day to unfold?
We must
allow God's way to unfold for us and follow HIM wherever He leads us and that
will mean taking up a CROSS and that CROSS will kill our self serving and by
the grace of God make us God serving first, and from that serving
others!
Please LORD, we would be YOURS! Please! Put to death all the self-serving inside of us that would take over and kill You in Your rightful place in our hearts! All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ!
Please LORD, we would be YOURS! Please! Put to death all the self-serving inside of us that would take over and kill You in Your rightful place in our hearts! All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ!
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