“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9:23-24.
The hardest thing for a man to do is lose. We don’t want to surrender. We want to be on the winning team. When facing the enemy on the front line, even the coward wants to win. Men aren’t wired to lose, to give in, to surrender.
And then we hear Jesus.
He calls us to come. Deny ourselves. Pick up our cross and follow Him. We turn away from lust, misguided ambition, envy, fear, control, arrogance. No looking back. No turning aside. Our faces fixed toward the cross of our own crucifixion. We twinge at the call. We suffer not knowing the cost.
Some turn away. But not us. We hear Jesus and we whisper, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Thy will be done in me” (Matthew 6:10).
Jesus demands everything from us because we are everything to Him.
There is nothing more important, more valuable, of greater worth to the Father of Love than the sons He has called to Himself. He calls you His son. He calls you His inheritance. He has held nothing back from you. So we hold nothing back from Him.
He gives us His Spirit to empower us to come, to deny ourselves, to pick up our cross and follow Him. His power is made perfect in our weakness, in our struggle, in our surrender. His grace is always sufficient. He is sufficient.
The Next Question.
What keeps you from walking in the reality that you are God’s greatest possession?
How can you move from fighting in your own strength to surrendering to His?
Do you know Him whose grace is sufficient—He who strengthens you in your weakness?