Luke 9:23–24 (NKJV) — 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
Is the temporary pleasure of this world worth the loss of eternal life with God?
I love to eat. My love of eating over the years has cost me. I once weighed around 260 pounds and none of it was muscle. My love of eating has cost me in my later years of life. We make choices. What we may think is a small insignificant choice can cost us dearly.
Learning to say no to the bad and yes to the good is one of the greatest gifts we could ever receive. We worry about hurting someone’s feelings by saying no to them. We worry about what may happen in our own life if we say no to our selfish desires. One important thing to remember is Satan knows our hidden desires. He knows how to tempt.
We must say no to the bad and yes to the good if we are going to grow in our spiritual lives. Saying yes to the bad and no to the good is costly.
Matthew 5:37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
- A simple yes or no can mean a lifetime of pleasure or a curse that follows one to the grave. Complete honesty should be the life of a follower of Christ. A half-truth is a complete lie. Jesus says His followers are the “salt of the earth”. To not live the Christian life in honesty following Him is to lose our testimony as a Christian.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
- Living in a sinful fallen world is difficult. Doing what is good in the darkness of evil can be frightening. God has promised to give us His power and love and a sound mind. We do not have to face this world alone. God lives in us and we have His power and love dwelling in us.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
- We are not to live our lives for the temporary pleasures of this world.
- We are to “seek God and His kingdom.”
How many live defeated Christian lives because they seek the temporary pleasures of this world? We lose when we choose the temporary things of this world instead of the eternal life God has given us in Christ!
Jesus said in John 10:10,“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Are you living in the abundance of God’s love and experiencing the abundance of His life in you?
Is the temporary pleasure of this world worth the loss of eternal life with God?
Simply put, we can live in the abundance of God’s love and power. It is a choice each of us makes. Say yes to God and no to Satan.