Denying yourself of sin is one thing found in the Bible that cannot be glamorized. Denial of sin is a painful, brutal and confrontational process that is grueling before it is ever glorious. If you havent tapped into the grueling aspect of Christianity...you will never partake of the glorious aspect of Christianity. If you are under the impression that Christianity is all glitz, glamour and completely lacks ANY and ALL uncomfortable opposition whatsoever; while you Live Your Best Life Now...you may as well come to the confrontational realization that youre involved in a counterfeit. If you want to taste the glory...youre going to have to first taste the cross. If you want to partake of the resurrection...you will first need to experience the death that precedes the resurrection. A lot of people forsake Christ when the pain of Christianity comes in-between the glory of Church-ianity. Church-ianity wants glory first... and sacrifice and pain NEVER. True Christianity requires pain and sacrifice first... and glory FOREVER. Dont buy into the counterfeit of its gonna cost me nothing Church-inaity. It cost Him everything...and itll cost us no less to follow Him. Never assume that if it cost Him His very life, that it wont also cost you yours. The very foundation of Christianity is based on COST. And if Christianitys foundation (from the standpoint of Christ) was based on the notion of how little will this cost me...you wouldnt be reading these words right now. Why? Because if Christ acted like the tyrannical, God-anarchist, pacified-babies we have in our churches today; Hed of never went to the cross. He went to His cross...now: just like Him, so must we, go to ours. Just because denial of sin doesnt feel glamorous or gives you goose bumps...doesnt mean its not God-ordained. If EVERY last martyr who willingly gave up their LITERAL lives for Christ, were waiting on the goose-bump process to kick in BEFORE theyd be willingly sacrificed...wed have NO martyrs for Jesus Christ. Sometimes following Christ hurts...REALLY BAD. Getting saved is one thing: its easy and absolutely free...but following Him and becoming His Disciple is quite another thing. Getting saved is based entirely on HIS pain...but following Him is entirely based on OUR pain mingled with His. Sometimes pain and death in the Christian life is the only way to know were truly saved and abiding in Him. And thats the plain, unglamorized truth. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27 Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:32:57 +0000
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