About two months ago to the date, I started reading a book that changed my life... for the better. Instead of going into every detail of the book, I will say the most important most, biggest thing that I learned, was what it meant to give up what I have for Christ. Now why does one give up things for Christ? (I asked myself this many times at the age of 17) I give up these things because Jesus shed his innocent blood, for my sinful self, so that one day I might be able to spend eternity with Him. Because at the age of eleven I made a commitment to God that I would follow him, no matter what. Yes, no matter what. Regardless if I must give the things I desire, the things I love, the things I enjoy, I follow after Christ. I can tell you that at age eleven, no one sat me down and told me that, that being a Christian means you sacrifice things, no one ever told me that we are called to live the lives like those of the disciples in the bible. Yes, really be willing to give up what we cherish, our highest prized items to follow Jesus.
Galatians 2:20 says, " I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me".
We are called to die with Christ. That means the life I live, is no longer mine. My aspirations, my dreams, my visions in life are dead. I know that is not what we want to hear, but to truly follow after Christ, what are we willing to give up? Do we say to God, I will follow after you, whatever you want Lord.... only if it is what my heart desires. The Christian walk would be so easy, if all we had to do was say a prayer to God, to "commit" our lives to Him, but when something bad happens in our life or when we already had our own set plan for our lives, we just give up on God... or quite frankly, come to Him when its convenient for us. But the disciples never lived like that. Eleven out of the twelve disciples were martyred for Christ. They were willing to give up, literally everything for Christ. They didn't say to Jesus, I give you my time, my effort, my friends..... but I'm going to keep my family. No, they sacrificed everything for Jesus.
Jesus addresses the cost of discipleship in Matthew 10:37
-"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it".
I can tell you that even at age eleven I don't know if my mind would have been fully able to understand what it meant to sacrifice everything, but I can tell you that it took me eleven years later, at age 21 to finally figure it out. I wish I could say that I have this down, but unfortunately I am not even close to being there. God is teaching me daily, though that none of these earthly things matter. Heaven is the longest life we will live. The life we live on earth is short, very short. No cars, no clothes, no job, no marriage, no kids, will be taken with us. None of it matters in the end when we are facing the God of eternity at the gates of heaven. If heaven will be anything like Isaiah witnessed in Isaiah 6, we will stand in awe of God, humbled before a mighty King and in recognition of our own filthy sin.
If God knows my every action, my every thought, my every motive, I want to live a life that is going to be worthwhile for the King of Kings. I don't want to be at my deathbed, and look at my life, that focused on what this world desires.What a wasted life I have lived then. If I am a Christian, I was not called to be of this world. This world is not my home.
My freshmen year of college when I was 19, I wrote a blog post or "note" on Facebook, saying that I wanted to be remembered of something when I died. In other words, I did not specifically have something I wanted to remembered for, but I wanted to be remembered for something in life. Being the naive 19 year old girl that I was, I did not think of the gospel as something to be remembered by. Now, almost three years later, approaching my senior year of college, I can tell you I do want to be remembered for something, and that;s the gospel. I don't think there is anything greater than that. And there is no greater legacy than that.
-"There will be liars and thieves who take from you
Not to undermine the consequenceBut you are not what you do
And when you need it most
I have a hundred reasons why I love you"
"Heartache came to visit me, but I knew this feeling wouldn't be ever after...."
