SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2022 11:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The Principle”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 16:24
Message of the verse: “24 Then Jesus said
to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
In Luke’s gospel which speaks of this same thing
going on in Matthew’s he adds to take up his cross “daily.”
I think that it is possible that
when Jesus said to His disciples "If anyone wishes to come after Me, that
they may have thought about two and a half years earlier when He called
them. I think about 48 and a half +years
earlier when the Lord called me to
follow Him as that is when He saved me. That
was without doubt the very best day of my life as it changed everything.
According to Mark 8:34 we know that
there were also unbelievers present there and so that call that went out to
them was to become His followers by believing in Him, the initial surrender of
the new birth, when a person comes to Christ for salvation and the old life of
sin is exchanged for a new life of righteousness. However to the believers there, including His
disciples the come after Me reiterated the call to the life of daily obedience
to Christ.
John MacArthur writes these
insightful words: “It is sadly possible for believers to lose
the first love they had when they received Christ as saving Lord and
surrendered all they were and had to Him (see Rev. 2:4) It is a constant
temptation to want to take back what was given up and to reclaim what was
forsaken. It is not impossible to again
place one’s own will above God’s and to take back rights that were relinquished
to Him. It is especially tempting to
compromise our commitment when the cost becomes high. But the fact that believers sometimes succumb
to disobedience does not alter the truth that the character of a true disciple
is manifest in obedience. Although
imperfect obedience is inevitable because of the unredeemed flesh, the basic
desire and life-direction of the true Christian is obedience to the Lord.
“Discipleship
is on God’s terms, just as coming to Him is on His terms. The Lord here reminds us that the key
discipleship principle of winning by losing involves self-denial, cross-bearing,
and loyal obedience. “
Here is the first requirement of discipleship: self-denial.
A person who is not willing to deny himself cannot claim to be a disciple of
Jesus Christ. MacArthur writes “Deny is
from aparneomai, which means to
completely disown, to utterly separate oneself from someone. It is that word Jesus used to describe Peter’s
denial of Him while He was being questioned by the high priest (Matt.
26:34). Each time he was confronted
about his relationship to Jesus, Peter more vehemently denied knowing Him (vv.
70, 72, 74). He disowned His Mater
before the world.”
This type of denial that Peter did to the Lord is exactly
the kind of denial a believer is to make in regard to himself. He is to utterly disown himself, to refuse to
acknowledge the self of the old man.
MacArthur adds “Jesus’ words here could be paraphrased, ‘Let him refuse
any association or companionship with himself.’
Self-denial not only characterizes a person when he comes in saving faith
to Christ but also as he lives as a faithful disciple of Christ.”
Lord willing we will
continue to look at this very important subject in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: David wrote in
Psalm 51:12 “ Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a
willing spirit.” This is the thing that
I need today, and every day that involves some kind of sin in my life.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to
deny myself the things that were in my life before the Lord saved me to His
glory.
9/28/2022 12:27
PM
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