Friday, January 27, 2023
Losing Yourself and Finding God’s Best
“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33 NKJV)
When Jesus said, “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple,” did He mean that Christians must take a vow of poverty and give away every possession?
No. Jesus was saying that we need to surrender our claim to our possessions. It simply means that we understand the ID tags on all that we have are not ours; they’re God’s.
It means that you recognize it is the Lord’s family that He has given you. It is the Lord’s life that you are the steward of. They are the Lord’s resources that you are spending. It is the Lord’s house that He has given to you.
The Bible says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV).
We surrender our claim and say, “Lord, it belongs to You. What do You want me to do?” Then we pursue the path that He has for us.
The apostle Paul summed it up well when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV).
The crucified life really means one thing: dying to self. It means losing yourself and, in the process, finding yourself. Through death you find life.
What it doesn’t mean is that we will be miserable and unable to live life to its fullest. It means the opposite. When we discover God’s plan for us, life becomes what it was meant to be.
Copyright © 2023 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
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Do your thoughts ever feel out of control? You’re not alone. And you’re not stuck. In his new book, Tame Your Thoughts, pastor and bestselling author Max Lucado helps you identify toxic thinking and replace it with the truth of Scripture. Clear and compelling, this book outlines biblical tools to help you stop unhealthy thought patterns and find peace, perspective, and joy in Christ. Request your copy of Tame Your Thoughts with your gift to Harvest Ministries this month.
