Hey everyone! As usual, I pray that all is well and all will be well in your lives.
There won’t be a long post today, I wanted to follow-up on what we talked about last week. Specifically, the other parts of the Matthew 16:24 verse.
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. — Matthew 16:24 (NIV)
Once again, there are three parts to this verse: denying your will, dying to the flesh, and following Christ. As part of the last fundamental, we focused on dying to the flesh, which was the “take up their cross” part. Once a person dies to their flesh, the other things stop being a struggle and come inherently. It’s very easy to say and pray for that, but dying to oneself is not an overnight process, it will take time and most of all Jesus to help you.
All three parts of this verse are equally important, so as a follow-up I wanted to briefly talk about the denying your will part. God gave us free will; even Jesus has a free will separate and apart from The Father; hence why he prayed “not my will, but thine, be done”.
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. — Luke 22:42 (NIV)
And, it is also why he taught us to pray:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. — Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV)
You cannot live with two wills, one must be surrendered, so in order to accept God’s will you have to give up your own: “deny yourself”. The hardest part of anyone’s life will be to accept the will of God, as God’s will often does not align with ours. Please note that I said anyone: even the unredeemed must accept the will of God; more specifically, the perfect will of God. It’s easy to ask for and to say the prayer “Thy will be done”, but once you know it (His will), it’s so hard to accept it. Additionally, we should not question it: He is God. As I pray and seek the will of God, I always pray “please give me grace for the things which I pray for”.
We may all have free will and need to figure out how we want to live our lives, but God has a will and plan for everybody’s life when it comes to his kingdom.
I was watching a documentary on WW1 the other night. The American general in charge of some the war efforts was General John J. Pershing. Was he a Christian or even a good person? I do not know. However, I do believe he had a purpose from God to lead in the war. The most tragic part of Gen Pershing’s life was the loss of his wife and daughters in a horrific fire. My understanding is that, that tragedy broke and changed Gen Pershing to be more empathetic. Considering the orders he had to issue, and the loss of life from cruelty he had to witness, dare I say that the fire was part of God’s will/plan to shape him for the future? Well, the real and ultimate question is “is God cruel?”.
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
— Job 1:21-22
We must not question the good Lord. We must take Him at his word. This is the spirit of self-denial.
When I started to write this post, I thought it would be more about the personal things we give up or stop doing, but that’s not the direction The Spirit wanted to go. You may not fully understand these last two posts today, but there may come a day when you will need them.
“As I pray and seek the will of God, I always pray ‘please give me grace for the things which I pray for'”.
May God bless and keep all who read this.
May God bless and keep all brothers and sisters, new and old, in the faith in his name.
With his love and mine,
Chrom