The Cost of Following Christ

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.-Proverbs 19:21

Last week, a brother asked me if it was okay to have dreams and goals in this life. It was a fair question to ask. Here's how I responded:

“Brother, so as long as your dreams and goals do not supersede God's will for your life. The cost of following Christ demands that you lay down your life; your own dreams and goals for the ones He will give you once you start following Him. If you have dreams to glorify God and advance His kingdom, then chances are the Lord placed those desires in you. Just examine those goals bro. Do they glorify God, or do they only bring glory to yourself? Do these dreams bring you comfort in this life over radically living for Christ?

Bro I encourage you to read Luke 9:23-24 and meditate on it for a while. Your time on this earth is short, and our life is not our own. How will you spend your time here? Will you live for Christ, or yourself? (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. 24For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.)

It's ok to have dreams and goals, just don't get upset when the Lord changes them. Be more eager about seeking God's plan for your life. In the book of Acts, Paul had a desire to go to Rome, and the Lord honored it because it glorified Him. Paul tried to seek the glory of God in all he did.”

Darrell Johnson writes: To deny yourself means to deny your self-lordship. It means saying no to the god who is me, to reject the demands of the god who is me, to refuse to obey the claims of the god who is me. A decisive no “I do not know the Lord Me-I do not bow down to him or her anymore.”

He also said: A man on his way to public crucifixion was compelled to abandon all earthly hopes and ambitions. Jesus calls His followers to think of ourselves as already dead, to bury all our earthly hopes and dreams, to bury the plans and agendas we made for ourselves. He will either resurrect our dreams or replace them with dreams and plans of his own.

Wow! So what does it really mean to deny self? Jesus in the passage in Luke is basically saying the first commandment! Love Me! Worship Me! Turn away from worshiping the idol self. Turn away from the god that is yourself. Cast out your pride. Only know and recognize that there is one God. Deny the lie that there is more than Him. This was a call to sanity, a call to cast down the delusion that you are in control of your own life and worship the one true God.

For this upcoming week meditate on Luke 9:23-24 and let the Lord speak to you.