Take Up Your Cross and Follow JesusSample

  

Jesus at the Centre of our Personalities 

Why should we deny the self and enthrone Christ?  

Goodness is only from God (Mark 10:18). Our goodness can never meet the righteous standards of God. God alone can meet His own standards of righteousness. This is why the law given through Moses was never intended to make man righteous. Rather, it was given in order to bring us to God by faith (Galatians 3:22-25). So, even in the Old Testament, righteousness was always by faith and never by the keeping of the law (Galatians 3:11, 3:21, 2:16).

We therefore need Jesus to take our place in order to meet God’s righteous requirement. If you and I must stand before God then we can only do so if Christ is the center of our personalities. 

As long as we are in the flesh, the ‘I’ within us will continue demanding importance. Every time we recognize the self craving for significance, we need to take the ego to the cross by faith. This is an action of the will, which is worked in us by Christ (Philippians 2:13). 

Christ becomes the center of our personalities when we crucify ourselves with Christ; it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us, by faith (Galatians 2:20). 

When we deny the self and enthrone Christ, we do not become robots or mindless people, but a transformation occurs and our true identity and worth in Christ emerges. A miracle takes place as Christ comes to the center and we are being denied, dethroned, or crucified. Then all our inbuilt qualities, potentials, capabilities, and talents emerge for the glory of God. 

This transformation, which is so undeniable to us as well as to all those around us, becomes the platform for reconciling people to God, thus making us His disciples (II Corinthians 4:10). The Christ life manifests through us. When we then share the message of Jesus reconciling people back to God, they not only hear the message of Jesus from us but also see Christ within us. 

Thought to ponder

When we do not enthrone Christ by denying the self, we become hindrances to reconciling people to God because people will not meet Christ in us but will experience our ugly old self.