Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." (Luke 9:23-24 NLT) A follower isn't prone to lead, are they? The leader determines the course, sets the pace, and directs the ones following what to look out for along the way. To follow, one must give up their 'own way'. The course is established for them - they actively choose to leave their path and follow a different one. Hanging onto our old way of doing things in life may prove to be a bit more foolish than we first want to admit, but it didn't get us where we wanted to be in the first place! Why would we hold onto it when all that path has provided is guilt, shame, discomfort, or mistrust? Somehow, like it or not, we must give up the 'right' to do our own thing and follow Christ as HE determines we s...
He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. (I Peter 2:24-25 NLT) To think that Jesus 'personally carried' your sins and my sins in his body shouldn't just amaze us, it should also humble us. The reason he 'personally carried' our sins in his body wasn't just because there was no other sacrifice that could atone for our sins - it was motivated out of his intense love for his creation. Where did he carry those sins? In his body and right up onto that cross. He died, once for all, so that we may be dead to our sin. Without the cross, sin's influence would never have been broken. It took a perfect sacrifice to deal sin its final blow! Now we live for what is right. As we have been discussing for a few days now, we make different choices. We no longer ...