"If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and FOLLOW ME!
When you invite Jesus Christ into your heart and surrender to Him, what does the Lord expect from you? When you are filled with the Holy Spirit what can we expect from your new heart and your new life? Because of your love for Jesus Christ will you hear Him say, come, FOLLOW ME! This applies to all believer's and those who profess to love the Lord. The One Truth Today tells us that if any of us want to be a follower of Jesus Christ, we must turn from our selfish ways and take up His Cross daily. We should repent of our prior lives, and stop sinning. We have to turn around from the path we were on and walk with the Lord and follow His ways. If you had been habitually committing the sin of drunkenness or sexual immorality or any other sin, the Lord expects you to stop right now and turn away from such behavior. It is selfish for anyone to keep on committing habitual sin in their future, and it is evidence that you are not "following" the Lord!
Just as Jesus Christ had to take up His Cross and suffer, you are expected to do the same thing and on a daily basis. Every day you are expected to be more and more like the Lord. If you are following in the footsteps of Jesus then you will be giving up yourself to become more like Him. Jesus laid down His life for us, and He expects us to lay down our lives for others and be willing to make sacrifices to save others and bring them the "Good News". When the Lord asks you to FOLLOW ME, are you listening and complying. Are you willing to give yourself up in order for Him to increase. There needs to be less of ourselves and more of Him every day!
Jesus told us that if you want to come after me, deny yourself and lose sight of your own interests. Give of yourself, take up your cross and follow me. The Lord wants us all to be more like Him. He wants us to hold steadfastly and conform to His example. This is true of our living and even more so in our dying. We are to disown ourselves and lose sight of ourselves. We are to keep our eyes on Him. Now let us ask ourselves this question, am I acting in a way today that clearly indicates that I am a follower of Jesus Christ? Do you deny yourself, avoid being selfish and take up your cross every day? Do you do this without hesitation or question? Can you hear the Lord clearly telling you, FOLLOW ME?
