MATTHEW 16:24-27 – Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

THEME OF THE DAY. REALLY THINK THEM THROUGH. There is a subtle danger Christians must guard against when it comes to our Bibles. In our reading and studying, we may come to familiar portions of scripture, do little, if any, pondering, and thus, do little, if any, applying in our lives. What makes this extremely dangerous in the Christian life is that the Word not applied leads to a lukewarm life; a kind of “going through the motions” Christianity that lacks vibrancy, joy, power, and influence. That is why throughout the scripture, we find exhorting words and phrases like “keep your heart”, “be zealous”, “strive”, “fight”, “put on”, “put off”, “earnestly seek”, and “make every effort” to remind us the Christian life requires constant watchfulness and intentionality in putting the Word of God into our lives. And that leads to today’s scripture . . .

Jesus’ words are familiar. His call to discipleship appears in all three of the synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke. In Luke’s account, he adds an important word – daily. Get in a group of Bible-reading Christians and ask the question, “In the Gospels, what did Jesus say were the conditions of being His disciple?” and I would be confident the majority of them would be able to quote today’s scripture, or at least the three conditions – deny oneself, take up a personal cross, and follow Him. But it is one thing to quote the conditions. Another to meet and live the conditions. So, let’s take the familiar and really think them through.

First, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Lord demands a putting down of anything self-oriented – “deny himself.” In its simplest understanding, this means a daily death to self-interest, self-goals, self-pleasures, self-fulfillment, and anything else that places self above others and Christ. Hard? No. Impossible, which makes our need for “dying to self-grace” be prayed for daily.

The second requirement our Lord places upon us is to embrace a life of personal suffering – “take up his cross.” We don’t do well in this area. I mean how does this sound in presenting the call to follow Christ, “If anyone would consider being a Christian, here is what is going to happen. You are going to be misunderstood, verbally, maybe physically, abused, laughed at, mocked, likely encounter resistance and tension in your family, and suffer a lot – like for the rest of your life.” Well, that is what Jesus is calling us to – the cross is a painful instrument of shame and death; and that daily for would be followers of Him.

Finally, Jesus places upon us the familiar third requirement to be His disciple – “follow me.” These words of command appear twenty-two times in the gospels. It is clear. It is required. It cannot be dismissed or misinterpreted. Our Lord says, “Obey me. Do My commands. Put obedience into your life.” And, as I stated in the opening paragraph, here lies the danger. We know this. We are familiar with this call of our Lord, but is there not a wide gulf between what we know to do and what we do? Yes, and that will always be true this side of heaven. We will know far more of God’s Word in our heads than what we obey of God’s Word in our lives, but here is the “bottom line” – are we striving with purpose to obey what we know? Think about it. Really think about it. Don’t let the familiar become the neglected. It will only produce a chilled heart to the Lord and His Word.

PRAYER: “Father, don’t let familiar scriptures to my mind become neglected scriptures in my life.”

QUOTE: “Think through what Jesus states are requirements, not suggestions, to be His disciple.”