TAKING UP OUR CROSS

Jesus said “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.'" (Matt. 16:24) The cross is an instrument of death. When Jesus revealed that anyone seeking to follow Him must "take up his cross," he was speaking of the necessity of dying to self in order to live for God. "Jesus died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." (2 Cor. 5:15) We go on living, just as He does, but our lives are to be lived for God and not for self. God is not interested in merely renovating the old you. It is complete regeneration that he seeks to perform on your heart and life. The old self nature must die. The way of discipleship behind Jesus Christ is one of self-denial and continual submission to the will of God.

The problem for us is that we want to have our own will and our own way. Pride has been the downfall of humanity. All of us are cursed with the temptation to prefer our way over the way of Christ. We want to indulge self, not deny it. But the only way that Christ can be all in us and to us is to let go of all self-sufficiency and self-will and yield completely to the will of God. Now, the question is how do we do this? And the answer is, "by faith."

Only Jesus can rescue us from ourselves. If the life of self is to be conquered, it will take a power greater than that which we have within us. Self cannot overcome self! Remember that! The part of you that is wicked is the part with which you are trying to overcome your wickedness! The only good in you is there by the indwelling Christ who lives in you and imparts his holiness to you. The only holiness you will ever have is that which He gives you. And He stands ready to give you all that you are willing to receive by faith.

Believe that self can be conquered in your life. Believe that self has been nailed to the cross—that you are dead to sin and to self. Let God fill you with Himself. Take up the cross of self-denial and accept that the only thing fitting for the self-nature is death. Live entirely by faith in Christ—and self will die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31).

Dewayne Dunaway