Do you think it is possible to be winning and losing at the same time?
Jesus Christ says it is! He asks; "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"
1*.
What good would it be to become great in this world now and yet lose your soul in the end?
Greatness in this life is only for a short while but the destiny of your soul is something you will have to live with forever!
2*.
Who better than Jesus Christ to tell us the best way to live? He made us, and knows why He made us!
3*.
Although He is the Eternal Son of God He willingly became one of us as part of His great plan to be able to bless us!
4*.
Jesus gives this important description and illustration of His true follower; "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
5*.
You see, in those days when a criminal was condemned the Romans would make him carry his cross to the place of crucifixion. As he carried that cross he was already finished with his life of crime! He was no longer free to continue in it.
Jesus did not mean His true followers were to literally take up a cross daily. But, as His followers, they should daily go forth as if they had taken up a cross. - they are people who daily want to be finished with their life of sin that offended God. Like the person carrying a cross they will not easily forget the awful price their sins deserved; but, for them it is only a reminder of that terrible price! That price was already paid in full by Jesus when He literally took up His cross to die for their sins!
6*. Thank You, Jesus!
By becoming a man Jesus had had to deny Himself of very much more than the sinful "pleasures" of this life, He had had to deny Himself of the position and power of His throne in Heaven.
7*.
He did all that when He willingly came to earth to "take up His cross" and suffer the punishment you and I deserved from God! 6*.
We need to remind ourselves daily of how terrible our sin is to God and that "Jesus Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness."
8*.
Jesus said, "whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it."
9*.
Are YOU willing to "lose" your sinful way of life and let your life be "found" and controlled by JESUS CHRIST as your LORD?
The person who is ashamed to belong to Jesus and obey His words may not seem to be losing out in this life, but he certainly will lose out in the end! "The Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of His Father and of the holy angels."
10*.
You will be a loser when Jesus returns if He has to reject you because you didn't want Him to be your Lord now? Read His warning message in Luke chapter 9, verses 23-26.
Bye for now,
John Nixon, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland. P31HD98. Contact: jnixonj@gmail.com
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Footnotes. Bible quotations from N.I.V.
