Take Up Your Cross and Follow JesusSample

Be Found in Christ 

The Lord is inviting us to accompany Him to the cross where He is reconciling a lost world back to Himself. He is engaging us to be co-laborers with Him in this task (II Corinthians 5:18-20). 

What happens at the cross? The cross is where Jesus died. He is showing us that to be reconciled to God, we need to die to self. In other words, the self needs to be denied. 

When we receive Jesus into our lives, we can no longer live for ourselves (II Corinthians 5:14-15). We can only begin to live for Jesus when our self is denied. Nothing good dwells in our flesh (Romans 7:18). Goodness is only from God (Mark 10:18). 

To be reconciled with God, man needs to be righteous. This is a righteousness, which is not contrived by us, but the righteousness of God bestowed upon us. This is why Jesus came. He came so that we can have God’s righteousness (I Corinthians 1:29-30). This is a righteousness which we receive by faith when we place our self with Jesus on the cross (Philippians 3:9). 

Denying the self is therefore mandatory if we are to journey with Jesus to the cross. 

Thought to ponder

Who is at the center of your life? Is it you or is it Jesus? Is the self still in control of you? If so, will you repent and invite Jesus to be the Lord of your life?