Move Forward

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." ~
Luke 9:23-27

In order to completely accept Jesus and everything He did for us on the cross, we are also commanded to follow Him daily. This is the harder part; to everyday sacrifice our humanly and worldly wants so that we can become more Christ like. Everyday we make choices to either live selfishly, or for Him in sometimes a sacrificial way; giving up something we want to further His kingdom. The truth of the matter is that whatever choice we make also helps shape where we will spend eternity. You can not proclaim to follow Christ and have the narcissistic mentality that much of this world holds today. It is not ALL about YOU....in fact, very little of it is about you. To continually seek out worldly happiness and pleasures will only lead you to hurt and hard feelings. The true source of joy comes from resting in Him and in His truths, promises and complete will for our lives. He is in control. The sooner we come to realize that we are not in as much control as we think we are and as soon as we learn to be content where we are and with what we have the sooner joy will enter our hearts and souls....our very beings. It's like being pulled behind a boat on a tube, or water skis - if we stay in the wake of the boat we have much smoother water. On the other hand, if you venture outside of the wake you start to get into choppy territory; water that only experienced water skiers can navigate. The same is true with Christ. If you stay behind His lead and take up your cross daily the smoother life seems to be no matter what is going on around you, but as soon as you leave his lead you enter into areas that are harder to navigate and you are more likely to falter. All I know for sure is that I don't want Him to be ashamed of me when I meet him face to face as the scriptures indicate will happen to some...so I'll pick up my cross and move forward. ~