Luke 9:23
And He was saying to them all, "If any one wishes (or desires) to come after me (or follow me), he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.
What I am about to say is going to sound stupid to some....
Some will read it, and possibly be angry with me....
That will declare that I have no concept....no idea as to what a life of addiction is truly like....
They will scream that I am teaching a pie-in-the-sky theology that is not based or grounded in truth, much less reality.
I'm going to say it anyway...
This road to a new life begins in the simplest manner...
It is found in two words....
"Follow Me!"
It isn't the words that have some sort of magical property. In fact there isn't any magic to it.
But rather the other-worldly property found in those two words comes from the very One who spoke them. Jesus...
That's right...the Jesus of the Bible.
When we read the word "Follow"...that denotes an attitude of not only the body, but the mind, the heart and the spirit. It is a verb which denotes movement. You don't follow by sitting in one place and thinking about following. If you are invited to follow someone, you get up...you move....more importantly, you watch which way they are going so you CAN follow.
The second word is "ME".
Notice that Christ never said to follow the twelve steps....He said to follow Him.
Now in the process of allowing Him to change our hearts, our character, and our way of thinking, we do follow those steps as a kind of guide that helps us. The power isn't in the steps.......the POWER in in the person of Jesus Christ. See, I told you that this was pretty simple.
Some will tell you to do so, to follow this Jesus, is hard. Well, in some regards it is hard. Why? Because we will want to run the show from time to time. Jesus will be leading us in one direction of our daily life, and we will want to take control so we can take a side trip. Here in is the great battle that follows us all. The need to be in control. The need to be the one calling the shots. The one who actually believes that we have gotten better, maybe even healed, and are now capable of running what use to be an unmanageable life. In other words, we cease to follow Jesus, and begin to follow "Self". How's that going to work out? Not good!
As you continue to follow Jesus through your daily life, such a process will become easier. You'll grow and mature spiritually into a person who can hear God when He speaks, and will be more ready to not follow self. Life is a struggle, and I would never tell you different. Life is meant to be lived. So why not do so headed in the right direction. Why not walk through life following the one who created us. How about thinking on these things today. I know that I am.
God on you...
mbb
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