True Disciples Are Devoted to Christ
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any one desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and shall not hate his own father and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yea, and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple;
Luke 14: 33 Thus then every one of you who forsakes not all that is his own cannot be my disciple.
Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, If thou wouldest be perfect, go, sell what thou hast and give to [the] poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me
Mark 8:34 And having called the crowd with his disciples, he said to them, Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.
Luke 9:23 And he said to [them] all, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me;
First of all is one thing I like to make clear about the text I have chosen here to does not call for you to hate your parents or give up everything you own and become poor. The Scriptures call for you to put things in proper category, and the head of that category list is to be Christ.
While looking at the text in that perspective it seems simple right? But this is not simple. This is a change of our whole lifestyle. You will in fact have to give up many things that you have in the past done without feeling any guilt. For instance, if you are invited to attend the bachelor party that you know will have excess drinking, nudity and other things, which do not fit your new lifestyle, you will have to decline the offer. Once you devote your life to Christ. You're going to have to consider the kind of employment, you have, what you do for recreation, and even who you associate with.
Above all, devoting your life to Christ means that others must see him and you. That bumper sticker that we all have seen that says, what would Christ do, is something that we must continually consider in our interaction with our fellow man.
Devoting your life to Christ also means devoting your life to his word, by continually studying the Bible so as to arm the Holy Spirit who dwells within us with the sword he needs to fight the battle for our Savior.
Blessings
Law
