This the last in our series of Choosing Jesus.
What is the good life? The world tells us that we should do whatever we want to get the good life, to get what we deserve. The bible tells us when we choose Jesus we will have eternal life, we’ll also have life in all its fullness, but in Mark 8:34-38 Jesus tells us there’s a cost too.
If you follow Jesus you have to do 3 things
- Deny yourself
– We live in a culture of instant gratification, whatever you want you can have it right now. But when you become a Christian there’s an ownership change and there’s a constant battle between the old and new self.
- Take up the cross
– This doesn’t mean we have to take up a burden and be weighed down by life, as Jesus says his burden is light. But carrying the cross is a picture of you dying to your old self.
- Follow me
– When we’re faced with difficult choices do we go with what the world’s telling us or do we follow Jesus? Everyday we have to make that choice. Are we willing to deny ourselves in order to give somewhere else?
But how do we do this, how do we deny those desires and choose Jesus?
- We have to think of eternity and not the here and now. This world won’t last, when we deny the instant gratification we are investing in eternity
- When you choose Jesus you have everything you need, the responsibility is then on us to use the gifts God has already given us to grow and live holy lives
Wherever you are in your spiritual walk, it’s time choose Jesus and take responsibility for saying that I have everything that I need to live a Godly life, to say no to temptation and to be the man or woman that God created us to be.