Matthew 16:24 ESV Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Being a disciple of Jesus is a three step process; denial, death, and obedience. First we must decide that we will master our desires, not our desires master us. God is not against us having fun but He designed us to have limits. Sin happens when we cross those limits. The devil always wants to pervert what God has created so he tempts us to take the pleasures God has provided and indulge to the point that what God meant for good becomes a snare.
For example, my biggest sin stronghold for many years (decades) was gluttony. God created us to enjoy eating, but to do so in moderation. I let my desire for food control me to the point I became morbidly obese. By God’s grace, I have finally been able to deny myself in this area and have lost over 90 pounds in the last two years.
Every pleasure that God created for our enjoyment is abused by people. Work, leisure, sex, food, alcohol, the list is endless. Anything that can be enjoyed is over enjoyed by many people, always to their detriment and eventual enslavement. Therefore, we must learn to deny ourselves of abusing that pleasure so that Jesus will be the only master in our life.
Then we must kill our old self to become a new creation. Sometimes people talk about “bearing a cross” as some sort of burden they must endure. A cross was a tool for execution. A more modern metaphor might be “sit in an electric chair”. God wants us to “die” to our old mindsets and attitudes so that we can be reborn as a new person (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is not a one-time event but a daily activity as our old self is much like a zombie that keeps resurrecting itself after it has been killed and tries to drag us back to our old way of life.
Finally we must follow Jesus. To “follow” mean to obey. To go where He leads doing what He wants.
There it is, the three things necessary to be Jesus’ disciple. A disciples is one who follows the lifestyle of another person. Jesus denied Himself and lived obediently to His Father. He did not have a sin nature to kill but He did literally take up his cross for our sake. Therefore, when we do those things we are being conformed to the image of Christ and are his disciples.
Thank You Jesus for modeling the way to live. Thank You for the Holy Spirit that gives me the strength and ability to live out your commands. Thank You for calling me to be your disciple. I pray my life will let those around me see You.