What do
you have to give up and what sacrifice are you ready to make for the sake of
Christ? Back in
those days when I used to be lukewarm in the faith, I wouldn’t take a second
look at the word, ‘’self-denial’’. That word sure didn’t exist in my wordlist..
I had it all my own way clearly because I was LUKEWARM. I understood the Gospel my own
way and in a daily attempt to redefine what God had already defined, I became
far more halfhearted in the things of
God. It goes to explain the length at which I had deceived myself and could NEVER have a life-changing relationship with Jesus without
accepting the full gospel devoid of choosing what and what not to believe and
accept as God’s unchangeable truth. I muddled in falsehood not committing to
the absolute truth. They were days when one only goes to Church to be seen,
fill the empty seat at Church, or for this one reason, ‘’ my family and friends
will think badly of me if I didn’t go’’ which’ driving priority was purely
‘’self’’. I didn’t LOVE what God loved and the opposite of this is true. At a
point I thought God would be asking too much of me especially from a little
someone like Janice if He told me I wasn’t serving Him RIGHT!. I didn’t feel
the need to have an experience with God beyond the lifeless and shallow one I encountered
back then. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH JANICE? She simply wasn’t ready to DENY herself
of all the pleasure and excitement locked up in a wild youthful heart and a society
devoid of God.
I wasn’t
ready to give up MYSELF for the sake of Christ and that consequently marked me
as a very false disciple of Jesus. This Word was true in my case - Isa 29:13 And
the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor
me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment
taught by men.
Christ
Jesus made a profound statement in the book of Matthew 16:25 saying, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me.
As I grew
closer to God, I realised it was downright necessary to deny myself and carry
my cross daily if I chose to follow Christ and become a true disciple of His’.
I have to allow it embrace my will, mind, power and interests. I must surrender my will
daily and seek to do God’s will only. I must give lodging to no other thoughts than those of God alone. I
must totally surrender my interests that are not in line with God’s Word and
that work to take the place of God in my life. Things that hold us back from
being right with God or growing in Him can be boiled down to the fact that we
won’t deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. Undoubtedly, it’s pleasing, for a while to
follow our own will and desires. But then by following our desires in anything,
we brace the rebellion of our hearts and follow the way of Baal. When we eat
the food we enjoy the most though it’s not good for our health , we often
increase a bodily disease. True or false?
It satisfies our taste alright, but it will
make us sicker right?. It brings pleasure, but it also brings pain and death!
Hence to deny ourselves, is to give up our own will, no matter how much we may
want our own way. It’s to deny any pleasure that does not come from God and
does not honor Him. Sometimes to deny ourselves means God has to take us through
the fire of purification because it’s often necessary to pluck out, so to
speak, an eye or to cut off an ear. There are some habits of sin we are so attached
to that we can NEVER be separated from them without extreme pain. This is when
you allow God to come in and burn up all the impurities. It hurts alright but
this must be. I should choose the loss
of a limb instead of letting my whole body perish. When I was lukewarm, I was
dead in sin and senseless. I wouldn’t part with the sins I loved though I knew
they were hated by God at a point. I would still come to God anyway, full of
lust and unholy desires and I leave the same way totally unchanged because I
would not DENY those things which were things I idolized.
BUT NOW, I
know just how relevant it is to DENY my flesh of what it WANTS.
Giving so
much ATTENTION to things much more than we do to God goes to show we have put
those things FIRST and have placed God on the last bench. Sad indeed because
some of us young/adult Christians don’t recognize where we have fallen. These
are serious issues…It’s a SAD DAY. In our world today, we are taught to deny
ourselves nothing and give our body what it yearns for at any given time. We
are NOT told to get out of our comfort zones and give up the fun stuff that
take up the place of God in our lives yet how many are perishing today because
they drove God out of the throne of their hearts and swapped Him with other
gods – idols?.
The
average Christian today will not want to give up anything for the sake of
Christ. We assume it’s ENOUGH to accept Christ in our lives and continue to live exactly the way
we lived yesterday. That’s being LUKEWARM! We are NOT truly living for Christ
until we lose a limb for His sake. Until we give up that THING that makes us
step on God’s foot, we are NOT truly living for Him.
Let’s get on to the practical side…..
Do you
ever wake up with God on your mind before you even think about FACEBOOK and
BREAKFAST? Is God the first person you communicate with whenever you wake up
from bed? We give so much attention to TV; MOVIES, SOAP OPERAS, FACEBOOK, AND
EVERY FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT and spend VERY little time praying, bible studying
and fellowshipping. We have set up gods in our lives that we reverence and have
refused to deny ourselves of these things. IT IS JUST AS SINFUL AS THE SIN OF FORNICATION! We must learn to discipline
our eyes, our mouth, our hands, our feet, our ears and our tongue. We MUST
guard them with all diligence. If you
realise a thing wants to take God’s place in your life don’t hesitate to cut it
off….it can even be FACEBOOK!
Yes I know people who have deleted their Facebook
accounts because they felt it was being a hindrance and since they didn’t have much
strength to control the way they use the social network, they had no other
choice than to delete their account
because they said they had to MAKE it to HEAVEN at all cost . It might seem
crazy or foolish to anyone including some Christians but it is the wisest thing
to ever do. That is to empathise that if
something is getting beyond your control and you feel you can no longer handle them
and those things are obviously stealing into your time, prayer life and bible
study life, cut it off! You don’t need the devil’s permission to do that. Just
so you don’t have idols in your life. Really, don’t allow these things to
CONTROL you! YOU are meant to CONTROL them so when the opposite of this is
happening, recognize there’s something wrong, wake up and take a fast U-TURN. Give up the sinful habits, porn, masturbation,
fornication, gambling, and the little gods like social media networks that take
up all your time and breathe. You are being challenged today!!!! What do you
have to give up and what sacrifice are you ready to make for the sake of
Christ? If you haven’t given up anything yet or sacrificed anything yet for the
sake of Christ, then you are NOT TRULY a disciple of Christ.
I have learnt one most important thing and it helps me guard my heart with all diligence as
I continue in my walk with Christ. That is, The enemy of my soul WILL USE
ANYTHING and ANYBODY as an intrusion in hopes that he might keep me bounded
from moving forward in my relationship with Christ Jesus.
Time to do some
RESISTING - Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you.
DENY YOURSELF
AND CARRY YOUR CROSS DAILY……
Rev 3:17-19 For you say, I am
rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are
wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
I counsel you to buy
from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so
that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen,
and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
Those whom I love, I
reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Blessings, Peace and Love,
Janice Makafui Doussey.
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