LOSING TO GAIN!

LOSING TO GAIN!

Matt 16:24-25

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

           Jesus had just told the disciples that He would be arrested, hastily tried, and crucified. Peter resisted this plan of the Master but did not know that it was a devilish response. I’m sure that it stung when Jesus said: “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”  Matt 16:23

           No pain, no gain! That is what is commonly said. But do we understand it when Jesus says it to us? We are in a great battle between evil and good. There will be injuries and casualties. Satan means business and we had better mean business too.

           Peter’s mistake was that he was thinking like an ordinary man instead of like a child of God. Perhaps he had missed the part about Jesus rising again the third day. His focus was only on pain and death. Only a fool would not want to avoid pain and death.

           To deny self does not mean to deny things. It means to give yourself wholly to Christ and share in His shame and death.

Rom 11:36

12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Dear Lord, the pain you have prescribed for me is not at all enjoyable. Let it produce in me the growth and fruit you intend. AMEN