“If anyone ould come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me”. Luke 9:23
.Powerful words spoken by none other than Jesus Christ himself. But what does that mean, really? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself all this past week…This is something Christians don’t really like to talk about. “The cost of following Jesus” we’d much rather dwell on his love, his goodness, his Grace and mercy…
But the more I study the life of Jesus’ disciples the more he convicts me. The radical way they lived their lives as holy servants, sharing the gospel, living as though this earth isn’t their home. What should my life look like, if that’s the way Christ Jesus himself called his followers to live? One thing comes up, again and again;
Servant hood.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”
galatians 2:20.
“Therefore, I urge you bothers…offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God”
Romans 12:1
I’ve
been studying what a true servant of Christ looks like. Studying the life of those who have gone before me. The ones who lives are recorded in none other than the Bible.It’s hits me time and time again how short this life I lead will be. I want to live it as a servant. I want to live it in a way that is building into the kingdom of God almighty! I want to have the kind of “Jesus meeting” that would cause me to live as recklessly as his disciples did. Because, isn’t that what God had in mind for his believers all along? After reading so much in the new testament I’m fairly convinced that it is.
It has been really amazing to see the way God has been honoring my dangerous prayer. The one that I recorded in my prayer journal, the first few moments into my 21st birthday.
“December 27th…Reshape my dreams, my desires, my vision, my wants, my goals, my life, into all that you would have for me”.
The father has been leading me along a path of deeper trust in him. Showing me only the very next step. Waiting for me to trust him all over again to leap onto the next step. All along the way, denying myself more and more. Turning me into something I really wouldn’t have described myself as; a servant.
The life of a Christ following servant looks different for me then it will for you. But I truly believe that it will be filled with reckless abandoment. Falling more and more in love with Jesus. I challenge you, dear one, child of the Most High God. Dare to ask the father what it looks like for your life.
For me, it’s fully chasing after Jesus. Serving his children in Swaziland for the next two months. Letting go of the plans I once had, letting him reshape my dreams for my life into all that he would have for me. Serving him.
“Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Matthew 20:26-28
“And now, O Isreal, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul…” Deuteronomy 10:12
-Servant of Christ, Most High,
Brookie.
