Taken faith for granted?
Jesus said,
“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38.
Here is a clear statement of what it is to be a Christian. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that we must be willing to take up our cross and follow Him.
The cross is a symbol of suffering and pain. We must be aware that as Christians we may have to suffer and die for our faith. We must take this into account when we decide to accept Christ into our lives.
Jesus also makes it clear that, “...whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
As Christians I am convinced we cannot lose. While we may go through much suffering and pain be it simply from health problem or persecution from our enemies we still win.
I am reminded of a sixteen year old Christian boy who was told to renounce his faith in Christ by the terrorist group IS or die. He refused and was murdered.
This is the kind of thing we as Christians must be willing to do for the sake of the gospel.
Those of us who live in the democracies of the west enjoy incredible freedoms. Sometimes I believe we take our faith too much for granted.
We in the west can pop into a church without fear anytime in any city, town or village. We can worship without fear. That’s why I think we all to often put a golf game or football or dance classes ahead of our service to God. We forget how costly our faith is.
Are you taking your faith for granted?
Please think about it.
