Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

June 28
Friday


MISERABLE
SUCCESS

READ:
Luke 9:18-27
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If anyone desires to
come after Me, let him
deny himself, and take
up his cross daily, and
follow Me. __Luke 9:23
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In whatever a man does without God, he must fail miserably__or succeed more miserably," wrote George MacDonald (1824-1905), a Scottish novelist, poet, and christian minister. This intriguing statement is often cited by modern speakers and writers and appears in MacDonald's book Unspoken Sermons.

MacDonald was dealing with the difficult subject of a Christian's self-denial and how we are to apply this teaching of Jesus: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it" (Luke 9:23-24).

Rather than merely trying to suppress our natural desires, MacDonald said that true self-denial means "we must see things as [Christ] saw them, regard them as He regarded them; we must take the will of God as the very life of our being....We are no more to thn, 'What should I like to do?' but 'What would the Living One have me do?' "

Getting only what we want is succeeding miserably, True success is found in "losing" our lives for Jesus' sake and finding them again full and free in His will. __david McCasland

``````````````More like the Master I would live and grow,``````````````
``````````````More of His love to others I would show;`````````````````
```````````````More self-denial, like His in Galilee,```````````````````
`````````More like the Master I long to ever be. __Gebriel```````````````
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The spirit of humility and self-denial precedes
a deeper and closer walk with God.

**********************Today's Bible Reading __ Luke 9:18-27)************************

18 And it happened, as He
was alone praying, that His
disciples joined Him, and
He asked them, saying
"Who do the crowds say
that I am?"

19 So they answered and
said, "John the Baptist, but
some say Elijah; and others
say that one of the old
prophets has risen again."

20 He said to them, "But
who do you say that I am?"
Peter answered and said,
"The Christ of God."

21 And He strictly warned
and commanded them to
tell this to no one, 22 saying,
"The Son of Man must
suffer many things, and be
rejected by the elders and
chief priests and scribes,
and be killed, and be raised
the third day."

23 Then 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. 24 For whoever desires
to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life
for My sake will save it.

25 For what profit is it to a
man if he gains the whole
world, and is himself
destroyed or lost? 26 For
whoever is ashamed of Me
and 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. 27 But I tell you
truly, there are some
standing here who shall not
taste death till they see the
kingdom of God."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Luke portrayed Jesus as a man of prayer (5:16; 6:12; 9:18,28).
Examples of this can be seen at every major point in Christ's life:
His baptism (3:21); His selection of the Twelve (6:12-13); Peter's
confession (9:20); His transfiguration (vv.28-29); before teaching the
Lord's Prayer (11:1-4); and before His betrayal, arrest (22:40), and
death on the cross (23-34).