Day 27: "If You Want To Follow Jesus, Deny Yourself"

Day 27: "If You Want To Follow Jesus, Deny Yourself.

Read: Matthew 16:24

More than anything else, GOD wants you to follow Jesus. But GOD does not want you to follow Him if you are planning on "adding" Him to your life, as if He is another one of your self improvement programs.

GOD's Son is not a program; GOD's Son is a person.

Following Jesus means you are devoted to Him. Following Jesus means you make Him the number - one priority in your life. Following Jesus means you are willing to give up everything for him.

When Jesus called His first disciples, He asked them to do two things: First they had to deny themselves. When you deny something, you are saying it is not true. So to deny yourself is to admit you do not have the truth in you. But GOD's Son Jesus does: He IS the truth. Second, Jesus asked His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him.

Child of GOD, this is a hard saying because Jesus meant this in a literal sense. He went to the cross for you, and He expects you to be willing to die for Him. Not that you will have to -- but you must be willing. That is how serious you must be if you want to follow Jesus fully.