And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of
How wonderful it is that in the thirty-seventh verse of this chapter, our Lord faces the whole race of men, and claims their supreme love, asking that they should love Him more than their dearest from whom they have derived, or to whom they have given life. He does not attempt to justify His demand, and the only consideration that makes His claim reasonable is that He is the Son of God, who died for us on the cross, and that each one of us has a separate place in His divine human love. What a rebuke lies in the words: "is not worthy of Me." Surely in this sense there is no one of us worthy of our divine Lord.
Christ asks
for the surrender not of the heart only, but of the life. Self-denial for His
sake is the badge of the disciple. It is a strange procession of cross-hearers,
following the crucified. Each man has his own special form of self-denial,
which is required of him, and it must be undertaken willingly.
Of course,
it must be understood that the confession to which Christ summons us does not
consist in a single utterance of the lips; it is the constant acknowledgment of
Him by voice and life, maintained to the end, and the context makes it clear
that this will have to be maintained in the face of opposition, and that often
in its bitterest form, the opposition of the home. Many of us would find it
easier to face outward persecution and the tyrant's frown, than to stand
against the light teasing, the sneers and suspicions, the cruel words of those
who live within the home. In every age there have been those who have had to
stand absolutely alone for Christ, not hating their dear ones, but being hated
by them because of their allegiance to Christ, and destined to find the most
dutiful love and care repaid by stony indifference or active persecution.
Nothing is harder to bear, and there is no other course for us but to silence
the enemy and the avenger by patient continuance in well-doing, always
believing that God is faithful, and that He will not allow us to be tempted
above that we are able to bear.
PRAYER
Heavenly
Father, be the corrective, the complement, of every trouble and need through
which we may be called to pass; if we suffer for Christ, may we not threaten;
if we are spoken against, may we answer with blessing; if we are tried by the
fiery trial, may we rejoice; if we are lonely and desolate, may the Holy Spirit
make Jesus real to us. In His name I pray, AMEN.
God's
Daily Promise
Promise #323:
I will be your safe place in difficult times.
Nahum 1:7 (WEB)
Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble;
and he knows those who take refuge in him.
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