Understand The Times, International

"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. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His on glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels."

Comment:

These verses lay out the ground rules for what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. Many have made the claim they are Christians but do not take these words of Jesus very seriously. Christianity is not a belief system for those without a strong faith. Faith is trusting and believing in Jesus and doing exactly what He has stated in His Word. It is also obvious from these words that many who are Christians are more interested in worldly things than they are in their relationship with Christ and serving Him. Christians are to deny themselves, and do those things that show we are servants and do not demand to be served.

Application:

This very powerful message that is given to us represents the call for followers of Jesus. It also makes it clear that we are to stand up for His word and not deny the Word of God or act like we are ashamed that the Word of God is true. In light of what is happening today in the postmodern church, this should be a wakeup call. There are many who in teaching positions who make the claim that the Word of God is not the Word of God and are leading people down the road of deception and after themselves and church growth methods.