"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.  Galatians 2:20

Prior to knowing Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I deeply wanted to know Him. There were however, times in my life when I wasn’t willing to sacrifice the life that I had. Not that it was a life of prosperity. It was simply a life that I thought was going to lead to my happiness. Boy was I WRONG.

The Bible tells us the attributes of satan and that he is a liar. John 8:44 says “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to truth, there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”.

The enemy (satan) convinces us that success, money, relationships, family, drugs and/or alcohol and a myriad of other sins are all things that will bring us happiness. LIAR!

There were periods in my life when I was striving for most of the things on this list. I don’t think I would have given them up to have a relationship with Jesus.

That is why I feel so deeply for the rich man in Luke 18. He comes to Jesus and says “what must I do to inherit eternal life”. Jesus reminds him of the commandments that he already knows. He replies that he has been keeping those commandments since he was a boy. The scripture says that “When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Scripture tells us that “When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.  Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus knew what was more important to this man than He was and He told him that he would have to give that up. The man left without doing what Jesus asked Him to do. And without being forgiven of his sin.

Jesus repeatedly said that to receive eternal life and forgiveness we have to deny ourselves and our desires. (Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24; And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Mark 8:24; And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:38).

We are commanded to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind,” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7, Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:30-31 and Luke 10:27). We cannot do that if there is something in our lives that means more to us than He does. And, it doesn’t matter what that is…money, success, addictions (of any kind), spouse, children or anything.

If we are unwilling to give up our idols and things that are more important to us than our Savior, the scripture says …

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23;

And…

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’ Matthew 25:31-34

Doing things in Jesus’ name, reading the bible, and believing that He is the Son of God, are not enough. Even satan believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus gave His life so that we might live (eternally). We now must die to ourselves and give up those things that we desire more than Him. We have to live our lives for Him. Because He gave His life for ours.

Think it sounds like it wouldn’t be worth the sacrifice?

I assure you it is worth it. Our Precious Savior thought that we were worth the sacrifice and gave His life for ours (for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Romans 6:23), and He paid the penalty for our sins. There is nothing in this world more beautiful or desirable than our Lord Jesus and He is definitely worth the sacrifice. He is worth giving up sinful things that are harmful to us and those we love. He is worth giving up temporary things that will be worthless in a few years. And, because of the magnitude of His love for us, He is worth loving and living for.

I pray that those of us who know Jesus as our personal Savior, will repent for the idols that we do possess. I pray that we will lay those idols down and put Jesus back on the throne of our lives. He felt that we were worth the sacrifice. Put those things beneath His feet where they belong.

If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Once you have prayed that prayer, please reach out to me at Admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know. I would love to pray for you and help you to grow in your knowledge of and relationship with our Precious Savior.

Luv Ya!