Monday, February 06, 2006

Simple and Yet Difficult

Luke 9:23 (NKJV)

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.

My 'to do' list:

1. deny yourself
2. take up your cross daily
3. follow Jesus

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, Janet! You said so much in 13 words. I'm printing this post and putting it on my fridge. Thank you very much.

Donna Boucher said...

Coming over here to rid you of the terrible zero :o)

We'll see if this comment 'takes'.

So what do you consider a daily cross?

Janet said...

Read This

Matthew Henry on Luke 9:23 "We must accustom ourselves to all instances of self-denial and patience, v. 23. This is the best preparative for martyrdom. We must live a life of self-denial, mortification, and contempt of the world; we must not indulge our ease and appetite, for then it will be hard to bear toil, and weariness, and want, for Christ. We are daily subject to affliction, and we must accommodate ourselves to it, and acquiesce in the will of God in it, and must learn to endure hardship. We frequently meet with crosses in the way of duty; and, though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet, when they are laid for us, we must take them up, carry them after Christ, and make the best of them.

Amy said...

Janet, I'm so sorry that you aren't coming this way this year. Bummer. I was looking forward to sitting next to you with a nice Starbucks and chatting while our toes were gettin' all purty.

Your post is beautiful. I don't often deny myself (see above), which sadly enough makes #2 and #3 quite a bit more difficult.

Thanks for making me think today.

Janet said...

He he, Donna, I got a little carried away. I think what you wanted to know was specifically what is my cross that I bear, daily. Am I right?

I wrongfully think that things should go my way, according to my plans not God's plans. I sin when I don't joyfully accept the plans that God has for me whether long term or short term. Big or small. Afterall, God uses our little children to sanctify us, right? So, it's daily. Not my will, but God's holy and perfect will.

Janet said...

It is the laundry. :)

God can sanctify me through the laundry situation.

Donna Boucher said...

Thank you for sharing your personal cross. I thought you might say laundry.

Love,
Donna

*-;-*Jessie*-;-* said...

Mrs. Walworth, what does it mean "deny"? How do you deny yourself?

Donna Boucher said...

Jessie,
I will try to give a small example of what it means to deny oneself.

Say, I like to be right all the time. I have my ideas....and I think I am right. But say that this causes me to argue with my husband.

Then I read what Jesus says about arguing...
"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure children of the Lord."

Now..in order to be like Christ I would need to deny my habit of arguing....a natural inclination to argue. So I deny my self what I really want to do in order obey and be more like Jesus.

I hope that example makes sense. Mrs. W. can probably come up with on that involves her laundry :o)

Janet said...

Thank you, Donna. Great example.

I think of deny as to go without something you desire.

And yes, the laundry situation could come in to play here. I would rather read my blogs, clean my kitchen, get a pedicure and have a root canal than to put my clean laundry away. I must deny myself of that desire and JUST DO IT. It is the right thing to do. I am the keeper of this home and it must get done.

The way we deal with our spouse or friends is a way we can deny ourselves. Phil. 2:3 says "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself". We should be thinking of their wants, needs and desires not ours.

I hope this helps. I'm glad you asked. :-)

Anonymous said...

Thats what Pastor Dan taught about on Sunday!

*-;-*Jessie*-;-* said...

Yes, thank you! Now I understand. :o)

Janet said...

Hannah! I'm so glad you noticed.
;-)