Following Jesus is not easy. It comes with a cost. The cost of letting go of your life and choosing to follow Him no matter what. Matthew 16:24 says “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” You see, this generation has idolized following their heart and loving themselves. But Jesus says “deny yourself if you want to follow me.” Now what does denying oneself mean? It’s denying your flesh. Denying the things of the world, your desires. Just because you think that something is right, doesn’t mean it’s right. God should deem it right. Your flesh says “Come on to the theatre, watch movies, drink all day, change your gender, go clubbing” and you should be strong enough in Christ to shake that off and deny your flesh. If God says it’s a sin, it is a sin. What people around you state doesn’t matter. The church today is like ‘It’s okay to listen to secular music as long as the lyrics are pure. It’s okay to watch movies if it’s not bad’ No! It doesn’t work like that! The Bible says that “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” ( Hebrews 12:14,15 ). and it says “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31). Does secular music glorify Jesus? no. Do movies glorify Jesus? no. You are merely feeding the desires of your flesh. The movie you watch is filled with lust. The theatre you walk into is soaked in lust. You do that and then walk into church and complain that God is not doing anything for you? Remember that you wouldn’t be breathing if it weren’t for Him. Run away from the spirit of lust. Run away from the things of the world. Stop making excuses to please your flesh, your friends, and your family. You cannot tell God that you sinned because of someone else’s happiness and enter into heaven on the judgement day. Don’t lose your eternal life and hurt your Savior by sinning against Him. And taking up your cross means dying to yourself and completely surrendering to Christ. It’s saying “Lord, it’s no longer I, but YOU.” It’s saying “More of Jesus, less of me.” and living it.
Now, things I stated above. Is it easy to follow that? absolutely not. You cannot do it by yourself. That’s why Jesus says in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” You see, His strength is going to get you out of whatever you want to let go. I struggled, too. It was never easy and it’s never going to be easy. But you just have to have the heart of letting everything go and hold on only to Jesus. Because to me, like Paul said, “For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.” Philippians 3:8-21 Everything else is garbage except Christ. You have to have that love for Christ to actually let things go that don’t please Him. Are you completely going to be free from anything you let go of immediately? no. Temptation is going to find its way to you. It’s about how you deal with it. Whenever the thought of watching a movie or a drama or listening to secular music comes to you, just start thinking about Christ. Start singing songs that give Him praise and help you come out of it. Think about Christ 24/7 and it won’t be able to take over you. No longer will your sin control you but Christ will. The days that followed after writing this blog wasn’t easy for me. That’s when I realized how much of a value this paragraph holds. Cause what happened was I got stuck. Now that’s what I’m saying. No one is perfect. No one can ever be perfect. But we are to seek the guidance of God and ask for more of His Grace to fill us everyday and make us new. We have to keep pushing harder until the day we meet Christ cause that’s our only goal.
This is something very crucial in a Christian life but we seem to ignore it and take it easy. But God says “No, my daughter, my son. let it go and come to me.” It’s not going to be easy, it never will. You just got to surrender and let God take over you. Cause when Christ is in you, you will see things from a heavenly point of view rather than the world’s. So stop chasing the things of the world and start chasing Jesus. He is the only person who can heal, deliver, and love you till the very end. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ.
Amen sista 🤍