lose your life for me.

the purpose of our crosses is to keep us from going astray from Jesus, their purpose is to drive us back to His cross. to keep our redeemed souls close with Him forever...


Luke 9:23-24
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
-Jesus says we must deny ourselves (our sinful nature that always goes against God's will) 
-He calls us to fight our sinful self.
-then He says we must take up our cross, we each have different struggles and unique challenges, we each have our own crosses. which we are called to carry daily. not once a year or every now and then, but daily we are to carry our own crosses, our personal sins.
-yes, He promises daily challenges and problems to those who follow Him. our own life is compared to the cross, full of pain and suffering. but why? 
-Jesus sends us the cross- for the purpose that we deny our sinful nature.
that instead of living to please ourselves, and looking to only nourish our own wants and needs-which would be saving our lives - and losing our souls forever..for eternity. 
-Jesus sends us the cross. He sends each of us our own troubles and problems. because we are his children and He loves us.
-so, why does He give us pain in our troubles? -because He loves us. because it drives us back to Him for the strength to get through those struggles. the ONLY strength that will overcome everything.
-if we dont take up our crosses daily and follow Him our struggles and sin will build up like mold and grow worse and worse, preventing us to go to Him with all our hearts, completely and totally vulnerable with all our heart, and be close to our Savior. 
-for each of those times we are most concerned with pleasing our own sinful self, it drives us to His cross, to forgiveness in His blood. it drives us to His Word that overflows with the love that is shown in His death on the cross. it drives us back to His promise of eternity, of a forever love. it drives us back to the blood He shed so we have continual strength and forgiveness. it drives us back to Jesus. 
-our crosses drive us straight back to His cross. 
-cant you see that He places problems and pain in our lives to bring us closer to Him.
-we find this in His Word, and that Word helps us to deny our sinful self and to find nurture and love in our faith.
-"whoever loses his life FOR ME will save it"
this means denying ourselves everything that influences us, each in our own personal struggle with our own sins, it means denying what leads YOU away from God & Christ's blessings through His pure grace that washes us clean and pours over us through the gospel. 
-we must deny our sinful self, and take up our own cross daily. 
that means more to me now than it used to, after really reading it i grasp the true meaning of it all.
-that i must fight my own sins, each and everyday, and take up my own cross to drive myself back to the strength of Jesus on His cross. 
-the one who went to the cross for you in love sends you crosses, struggles, out of love to keep you close with Him for eternity! so you might lose your own life and stop pleasing yourself to instead live to only please Him...


lose your life for me and save it.