It's Time For You To Die
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
In the previous article, I described my efforts to find love and approval by seeking to prove my self-worth. After stubbornly pursuing my own path for many years, I finally realized that my efforts were in vain. I could never save myself. I was a sinner, and the wages of sin was death. Separation from God and eternal punishment was the justice that I deserved. My only hope could be found in Jesus Christ, whom God sent to pay the penalty for our sins and show us the path to new life.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
I had to learn to let go of my pride. I had to cease my efforts to save myself and choose to trust in Jesus. However, this does not mean that I was allowed to remain in sin and refuse to cooperate with God's transformative work. Jesus calls each one of us to pick up our cross and follow Him. Suffering and death precede the new birth.
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
Jesus calls each one of us to discipleship, and should you choose to follow, it will cost you everything. When you are a disciple, Jesus is your life. Family, friends, career, reputation, everything belongs to Him. Count the cost. What are you willing to lose in order to gain the life that God has for you?
When Jesus called His disciples to follow, they left everything.
When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
Not everyone who seeks to find their purpose is willing to follow Christ when they realize what it will cost them.
Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.
This young man in the previous passage was so enmeshed in the pursuit of personal gain that he found giving up his possesions too much to bear. This is a warning to us that we do not value the temporal above the eternal. We must choose to love God rather than ourselves.