Matthew 20:25-28 – But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

THEME OF THE DAY: UNDERSTANDING WHAT IT MEANS TO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST. It is the most difficult of things we must do in the Christian life. It is a challenge confronting us each and every day. It will never get easy no matter how long one has been a Christian. It requires a resolve using every ounce of strength and willpower we own. It cannot be compromised. It is “all or nothing” and will not allow partial application in our lives. And unless embraced, sought, and literally fought for, we will never come to grips with the proper understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Now a few of you might think I am referring to the discipline of prayer. That would be good, but not where we are going. Prayer is the most difficult of disciplines in the Christian life because of its importance. Every Christian would confess the challenge of having a deep and relational prayer life with the Lord. However, we are looking at something else. Here it is . . . the most difficult of things we must do in the Christian life is found in the following words of our Lord Jesus – “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). It is the daily, moment-by-moment practice of self-denial. The constant and conscious awareness and decisions of saying “no” to ourselves, our desires, our wills, our plans, and our everything and giving ourselves over to the interests of Christ and others. Is that not the most difficult thing in all of life? Some may say, “No, not really. I do give myself for others.” Okay, but here is the catch. The call of Jesus to deny ourselves is not for some of the time, but for all of the time. I admit it is easy to give myself over to serve the needs of others for an event, a brief period of time, or when a circumstance arises that quickly ends when the need is met. The problem with this type of self-denial is it doesn’t measure up to Biblical self-denial as called for by Jesus. And here is the difficulty. He calls us not to periods of self-denial for Him and others, but to a life of self-denial for Him and others. Please don’t despair. Don’t start doubting if we are even Christians when we see so little of such a life and a whole lot of self-fulfilling living instead of self-denying living. We can get to this proper understanding of what it means to follow Jesus Christ by grasping and then living out the relationship Jesus established when He saved us.

When a person becomes a Christian, the relationship with the Lord Jesus established is that of slave to Master. Yes, He is our Good Shepherd and we, His sheep. Yes, He is our King and we, His subjects. Yes, He is our Head, and we, His body, but the proper understanding of our relationship is that of Master to slave. Christ redeemed us by His blood to not only buy us off the slave market of sin and its mastery, but to own us as His property for His use. As slaves of Christ we have totally surrendered our rights, our opinions, our desires, our money, our time, our schedules, and our wills. Basically, our lives. There is no part-time slave of Christ. He is Lord of all and that all the time. And what is the only duty of a slave? Self-denying obedience to his or her master. Remember, though, this is not a slavery of bondage. When under the Mastery of the Lord Jesus, this obedience is a delight, a joy, a privilege, and gives us the greatest freedom found in life. Yes, the most difficult thing in the Christian life is self-denial, but it also defines what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And it all rests upon our understanding of the Master-slave relationship we have with Master Jesus.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to see, believe, and live what I am as a Christian – a servant of all and master of none.”

QUOTE: “Slaves of Christ defines us and slaves have no rights to exercise or opinions to offer. They only obey”