I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
How to Save Your Life
Jesus willingly sacrificed everything for the sake of the world—for you. He took the punishment of our sin so that we could know God intimately, forever. And when He rose from the dead, He made it possible for us to have a close relationship with Him.
Jesus made a way for us to know Him, but we have to choose whether or not we will follow Him.
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.”
Mark 8:34-35 NLT
What does it mean to take up our cross?
For Jesus, the cross was a literal object upon which He suffered and died. It was a physical weight that also symbolizes the spiritual heaviness He bore. The cross also represents the suffering and surrender we all choose to endure for the sake of knowing and obeying Christ.
The apostles viewed suffering as an opportunity to get to know Jesus better, but our cultures tell us that suffering is an obstacle to immediate pleasure. Jesus said that surrendering our lives to Him was key because He is the way to eternal life, but our world tells us that self-care is the gateway to living abundantly.
Taking up our cross means giving up our right to live however we want. It means letting Jesus dictate the trajectory of our lives, and making Him the one thing we pursue above everything else.
The irony is, if we refuse to take up our cross and follow Jesus—we will still suffer. We will still experience hardships. But we will also end up surrendering the eternal gifts Jesus offers us in exchange for momentary pleasure and comfort.
Taking up our cross is an act that we do on this side of eternity. But one day, we will be resurrected and given new life—a life without sorrow, suffering, death, or pain. A life eternally spent in God’s presence. That is the promise Jesus makes us when He asks us to follow Him. That is the life we get to look forward to when we give up our lives for Jesus’ sake.
“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, ...
