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Devotionals

Following Jesus

by Dr. Brenda Robinson

August 22, 2011

Scripture Reading: Luke 9:23

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

The first step in discipleship is following. Jesus described what it means to follow Him in today’s Scripture text. “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

In order to follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves. We must be willing to lay aside our own wants and needs for the sake of Jesus Christ. Jesus denied Himself for our needs. His self-denial can be seen throughout His earthly ministry. When Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but thine, be done,” He laid aside even His life for our sins.

Following Jesus also requires us to sacrifice our time and pleasures to spend quality time with the Lord and in His service. Jesus spent endless days and nights teaching people to forsake all they had to follow Him. Matthew 8:19-20 says, “And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Our Lord gave up His heavenly abode with His Father to dwell among man without even a place to lay down for rest. Jesus explained to the scribe in this verse that he would have to sacrifice many things as a result of his decision to follow Him.

Submission is the final key to following Jesus. Submission forms a relationship between Christ and ourselves. In other words, we must submit ourselves to a state of obedience to Christ. First Corinthians 11:3 says that Christ is the head of every man.

Let’s follow Christ through self-denial, sacrifice and submission.