Breakfast With Christ - The Wondrous Cross (Part 2)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/79a585_7b4194f82ac9496097a16674adf39c6b~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_600,h_400,al_c,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/79a585_7b4194f82ac9496097a16674adf39c6b~mv2.jpg)
BREAKFAST WITH CHRIST
TOPIC: THE WONDROUS CROSS II
SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW 16:24
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me".
THE CROSS: A SYMBOL OF SELF DENIAL
In 1669, William Penn whilst in prison for His faith in Jesus Christ, wrote a powerful book with the title "No Cross, No Crown". In this book, Penn encouraged believers to deny themselves of all material things and pleasure so that they can live for God. For him, the Christian life is about self denial.
The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross epitomizes self denial. It had to take some amazing love for the King of Heaven to leave His comfortable throne in Heaven to come and die on a lowly Cross. For Jesus to die for us, He had to deny Himself all the Glory he had in Heaven and allowed His own Creatures to spit on Him, beat Him and kill Him. Jesus laid down His life for us.
We cannot be followers of Jesus Christ if we cannot deny ourselves of the pleasures of this world to worship Him. These days, some of us Christians prefer being comfortable than obeying God. We are worshiping God out of convenience yet we want Him to bless us.
We pray only when we want to, we read the Bible when we want to. If we are not comfortable, we don't go to church. When we face the least trouble, we get angry with God. We are Christians who are not ready to sacrifice anything to follow Jesus yet He gave up everything to die for us.
If you want to be a true follower of Jesus, then you need to ignore all the pleasures of this world, take up your Cross and follow Jesus in faithfulness. We cannot follow material things and still follow Jesus. Christianity is about self denial.
Prayer line:
Lord, thank you for dying on the Cross for my sins. Please help me to deny myself all the pleasures of this world and live for you in faithfulness. Amen