SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/4/2022 8:30 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-7 “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.”
We begin with a quotation from John MacArthur: “Jesus had earlier said, ‘Do not think that I
came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a
sword. For I came to set a man against
his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household’
(Matt. 10:34-36). He had also said, ‘A
disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master…If they have
called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his
household!’ (vv. 24-25). Christ was now
in effect saying to His disciples that if He, their Lord, would have to ‘suffer
many things…and be killed’ (Matt. 16:21), how could they expect to escape the
same treatment?”
We look at the cross as where Jesus
died for our sins, and perhaps we wear a cross around our necks in order to help
us remember what Jesus Christ did for us, but make no mistake, the cross
represents suffering that is ours because of our relationship with Christ. As Jesus moved unwaveringly toward Jerusalem,
and Luke tells us that he went like a flint towards Jerusalem, which was the
place of execution where He must go, He had already taken up His cross and was
beginning to bear on His back the sins of the whole world. And in His train, millions of disciples all
with their own crosses, have since borne reproach with Him.
MacArthur goes on “Christ does not
call disciples to Himself to make their lives easy and prosperous, but to make
them holy and productive. Willingness to
take up his cross is the mark of the true disciple. As the hymnist wrote, ‘Must Jesus bear the
cross alone, and all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.’ Those who make initial confessions of their
desire to follow Jesus Christ, but refuse to accept hardship or persecution,
are characterized as the false, fruitless souls who are like rocky soil with no
depth. They wither and die under threat
of the reproach of Christ (Matt. 13:20-21).
Many people want a ‘no-cost’ discipleship, but Christ offers no such
option.”
I apologize for going so slow
through this one verse, but as stated before these are very difficult things to
pounder, and pounder we need to do with this section of Matthew 16, especially
in light of what is going on around the world as the world seems to be getting
ready to bring about persecution on all those who will name the name of Jesus
Christ.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I trust
the Lord to continue to do a work in my life in order to prepare me for what He
has planned for me to do for the cause of Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Lord!
10/4/2022 8:49
AM
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