Our salvation is free through our faith in the Lord Jesus, but it will cost us everything to become His disciples. To be His disciples means we become His followers or students. God saved us from our sin so that we can live for Him and not for ourselves. Our sinful self wants to live for itself and not for God, but our new self in Christ is to live for Him and not for ourselves. Our old self wants to lie, cheat, not to be kind to others, not wanting to forgive, not wanting to follow the ways of God, but our new self in Christ wants to know and follow God's ways. This is why God is renewing our minds and transforming our hearts so that we can live the life that He intended us to live by.
The Bible says that we have to deny ourselves to become His disciples. It means that we do not give in to our old self to control our minds and hearts. When we feel that we want to live for our own and not for God, we have to not give in to those desires. And God knows that denying ourselves is difficult, and this is the reason God wants us to pick up our cross. The cross represents suffering, so what Jesus is saying in the verse is that we should accept the discomfort or suffering that we may experience as we deny our old self to control our lives.
The only way we experience the joy of being a believer in Jesus Christ is to live our lives as His disciples. Many people worldwide have suffered because they chose to become Jesus' disciples, but it is all worth it for them. As believers of Jesus Christ, we, too, need to live our lives as Jesus' disciples. There is so much that God can teach and show us as we follow Him.
Ask yourself these questions: What is a disciple? What does it mean to be Jesus' disciple? Am I willing to be His disciple?
Write down all the worries that you are facing today and lift them up to God.
Prayers:
Father in heaven, thank you for saving me so that I can be a disciple of my Lord Jesus. Please help me to deny myself and live for you. Please help me to do what is right in your eyes and honor your name in everything that I do. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.