EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!
SUBJECT: THE BEST WAY TO LIVE!
Memory verse: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12 vs 1.)
READ: Luka 9 vs 23 - 26:
9:23: And He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
9:24: For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save.
9:25: For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
9:26: For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.
INTIMATION:
The best way to live is to surrender to Christ. Everybody eventually surrenders to something or someone. If not God, you will surrender to the opinions or expressions of others, to money, to resentment, to fear, to your own pride, lusts, ego, self-defeat, or pity. You were designed to worship God, and if you fail to worship Him, you will eventually create things (idols) that are gods to you, and you give your worship or life to them. God created you to worship Him, and also allowed the freedom of choice. You are free to choose who or what to surrender to, but you are not free from the consequences of that choice. There is freedom before surrender, but no freedom after surrender from the consequences of not surrendering to Him. If you don't surrender to Christ, you surrender to crisis.
Since outside of Christ is crisis, the only way to live life devoid of crisis is surrender to Him. Nothing else works. All other approaches lead to frustration, disappointment, and self-destruction. The apostle Paul calls surrender a "your reasonable service." Surrendering your life is not a foolish emotional impulse but a rational, intelligent act, the most responsible and sensible thing you can do with your life. That is why Paul said, ".Therefore we must make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him." (Second Corinthians 5 vs 9.) Your wisest moments will be those when you say yes to God.
Sometimes it takes years to discover this most sensible way to live. When this happens you eventually discover that the greatest hindrance to God's blessing in your life is not others, it is yourself—your self-will, stubborn pride, and personal ambition. You can't fulfill God's purposes for your life while focusing on your own plans. The time of the discovery in your life is immaterial, the important thing is that you have turned to your Owner. You need to discover yourself, if God is going to do His deepest work in you, it starts from this discovery.
Give all of you to God: your past regrets, your present problems, your future ambitions, your fears, dreams, weaknesses, habits, hurts, and hang-ups. Put Jesus Christ in the driver's seat of your life and take your hands off the steering wheel. Never you be frightened; nothing under His control can ever be out of control. You may not understand the circumstances you are in with Him, but it is the best for you, because all the things He does, work together for your eventual good, and in line with His purpose of your life. When you are Mastered by Christ, you can handle anything. You will be like the apostle Paul: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4 vs 13.)
Our place, time, and how we surrender differs. Paul's moment occurred on the Damascus road after he was knocked down by a blinding light. For others, God gets our attention with less drastic methods. Regardless, surrendering is never just a one-time event. Paul said, "I die daily." (First Corinthians 15 vs31.) There is a moment of surrender, and there is the practice of surrender, which is moment-by-moment and lifelong. Remember, when you surrender, you become a living sacrifice, and the problem of a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar, so you may have to re surrender your life fifty times a day. You must make it a daily habit. (Luke 9 vs 23.)
Let me warn you: When you decide to live a totally surrendered life, that decision will be tested. Sometimes it will mean doing inconvenient, unpopular, costly, or seemingly impossible tasks. It will often mean doing the opposite of what you feel like doing. Christ presented a clear and challenging description of the Christian life. Being His disciple means putting aside selfish desires, shouldering one’s “cross” every day, and following Him. It is simple and yet so demanding. For believers it means understanding that we belong to Him and that we live to serve His purposes.
Consider this: Do you think of your relationship with God primarily in terms of what’s in it for you (which is considerable) or in terms of what you can do for Him? Are you willing to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Him? Anything less is not discipleship; it is merely superficial lip service. Have you surrendered to Christ? Or are you still arguing and struggling with God over His right to do with your life as He pleases? If you have not, now is your time to surrender to God's grace, love, and wisdom; receiving His Nature! Following Christ means total submission to Him—perhaps even to the point of death.
Prayer: Abba Father, without You, I am completely nothing. I obediently and completely surrender all of my life to You, that You do with it as it’s pleasing to You. My utmost heart desire is to live everyday of my life in You, for You, and with You. So help me God, in Jesus’ most precious Name I have prayed, Amen.
PRAISE THE LORD!
