Taking Up The Cross

Day 15

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” - Mark 8:35-38

Rick Warren introduces a new method of studying the bible this upcoming week, and he calls it "Probe It", it basically is asking yourself a series of questions to help you reflect and take more out of the word. It follows the acronym SPACEPETS. Try it out, and see what you find!

S - is there a sin to confess?
P - is there a promise to claim?
A - is there an attitude to change?
C - is there a command to obey?
E - is there an example to follow?
P - is there a prayer to pray?
E - is there an error to avoid?
T - is there a truth to believe?
S - is there something to praise God for?

I think this is a great passage to begin the "Probe It" stage with because I feel like its the ultimate way of living, as it is titled in the bible "The Way of The Cross". I think it's one of the biggest difficulties we as Christians have, to live fully and wholeheartedly for God, taking up the cross daily.

S - I think i myself personally find it hard to deny myself sometimes. When God calls me to deny myself and take up the cross, he means everything and often I have a few strings attached, holding me down from diving in completely. But i'm starting to learn and understand the importance of giving it all to Jesus, and how great it is when you do.

P - "whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it". As counter-intuitive as that sounds, it is a promise. God promises us so much more when we follow Him. When we put our faith and our live in Him, we are accepting his free gift of eternal salvation. We're giving up all temporary things for something eternally satisfying, is that not the greatest promise?

A - We talked about this last night at ACF, we often are scared of sharing the gospel, or are ashamed of our faith, whatever it may be, we have to change our attitude towards our faith. Are we trusting in God? We have to realize there is nothing to lose when it comes to Christ, he is 100% good, and nothing bad can come out of it.

C - God commands us to deny ourselves to take up the cross daily. Its that simple, but its a hard task to do.

E - Jesus is the ultimate example, we can always look to friends, mentors, pastors who may all be living holy and pleasing lives, but ultimately are still sinners, are broken and are flawed. So why not look at the perfect example, found in the scriptures, our Saviour himself?

P - I pray that I will learn to give me life fully to Christ.

E - it states clearly at the end of the passage, "if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels" (v.38). That's a strong statement.

T - again in verse 38, it shows that God will come in his glory once more, to save us and to bring justice to all things.

S - Praise God, because he loved us, he gave his son for us, that Jesus lost his life for us, and we should learn to do the same. 

My Prayer: Father, we thank you for loving us from the start. You sent your only son down from heaven to die on the cross for the sins of mankind. Lord, there's nothing we can do but give ourselves to you, you bless us, you love us, you save us, us, the broken and the sinful. Thank you for giving us the gift of knowing you, following you and eternal life. Let us deny ourselves and follow you with all our mind, heart, soul, and strength. Amen.