What Are You Willing To Sacrifice?

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. | Matthew 10:38

And He said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. | Luke 9:23

What are you willing to sacrifice? Jesus says that if anyone who doesn't take up their cross they are not worthy of Him. Jesus is looking for people that are willing to deny their flesh daily in order to follow Him. In fact, in order to truly follow Jesus as a worthy disciple, it will require sacrifice. A lot of times our flesh gets in the way of what God wants to do through us as disciples. Our flesh gets in the way of God's very will for our lives. 

What is the flesh? The flesh isn't just the physical matter of human beings, the flesh is whatever is contrary to the Spirit of God. The flesh causes us to do things that pleases us as it pertains to our carnality. The carnality of man is anything that relates to the five senses. It means that whatever you feel, you must do in order to temporarily satisfy the desires of your five senses. The issue with this is that everything we feel to do isn't good. A lot of the things we would will to do don't agree with the holiness of the Spirit of God. The flesh and the Spirit of God are always contending with one another because the flesh is going one way and the Spirit of God is going in another direction.

What does Jesus mean when He says to take up your cross daily? He's talking about the will of the flesh. Denying the desires of the carnality of the flesh so that the spirit man subjects to the authority of the Spirit of God. In order to be an effective disciple, we must be able to deny a certain part of ourselves because flesh and Spirit don't really get along. Look at it this way; it would be an injustice to God for someone to call themself a disciple, attempting to reach the lost by preaching the gospel and with that same mouth curses his brethren with profanity. Or say for instance one is striving to be a person of integrity. A person who tries to be an example to others by exercising good character sometimes but not consistently. Let's say this same person verbally and possibly even physically abuses the ones that are close to him or her? The problem with these two examples is that they are a hindrance to the example people are trying to set in front of those who want to know Jesus. A disciple of Jesus must also be a visible example of the character of Jesus. 

 So I want to ask you, what are you willing to sacrifice in order to be a disciple of Jesus? What habits are you willing to kill? What mindsets are you willing to change? It's not just that you are an example of Christ to others, it's the fact that God wants to change your heart. He wants to make you new. He wants His disciples to be made whole and to follow and serve Him with a pure heart. To serve Him from a place of restoration and newness of life. Talk to God about this. He's only a prayer away. Ask Him what is it in me that needs to be done away with so that I can even be worthy enough to be called your disciple? Taking up the cross is a daily thing, and the beautiful thing about it is that God is with you every step of the way to help strengthen you to become what He already sees you as. 

His disciple. 

His child. 

And I am sure of this that He who began a good wor in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. | Philippians 1:6