Nuggets On Discipleship..."Going the Way Jesus Went!" (Mark 8:34-35; Galatians 6:14; 2:20

Our text says,"But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14). If you are serious about learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, I have some good news for you! You must do the following things. First, you must give up all right to yourself; that is, stop bothering about self-esteem, self-love and self-assertion as a way of life. This is how the world is crucified to you (Gal. 6:14). Second, you must take up your cross: that is, settle for a life into which the world's favor and esteem do not enter! In other words, only condemned criminals going to execution, people from whom the world's favor and esteem has been completely withdrawn, carried crosses in Jesus' day. This is how you are crucified to the world (Gal. 6:14). Next, you must follow Jesus by accepting as leader and guide one who expected hostility from the world. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). For the Christ follower, this links together both aspects of the Christ follower's identification with Christ; acceptance of Jesus' cross as both the end of the old life and the pattern of the new life! Praise God forevermore! Be encouraged!