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.
Following the Way of Jesus
Discipleship is at the center of the Christian life. To be a disciple means to be a learner. It means following after Jesus, and patterning our life after His.
Jesus tells us that the starting point of following Him is to deny ourselves. Denying ourselves means we choose to put Jesus’ desires above our own. This means that we must come to recognize that we do not have all the answers, or know the right way to go through life.
Discipleship is not something we do once or twice. It is a lifestyle that must be lived out each and every day. We will spend our entire lives becoming more like Jesus.
The way of life Jesus modeled was to suffer on the cross. When we deny ourselves, we choose to humbly follow Jesus. And as we become more like Jesus, we will also need to take up our cross. We will also suffer for doing good, and for denying things that seem enticing in the moment, but ultimately keep us from God. But when we bear our suffering, we represent Christ to those around us.
The paradox of following Jesus is that when we give up our life for His sake, we receive eternal life in return. When we hold onto our life and keep it from Jesus, we don’t get to experience the abundant life that He promises.
Take some time today to consider how you’re living a life of discipleship. Take inventory on the ways you are denying yourself and living for Christ, or living selfishly for your own pleasure and gain. Commit to following Jesus no matter how hard the path gets. And pray for strength and endurance as you follow Him.
Luke 16
“And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his Lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my Lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had ...
My True Identity
John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”
Many of us define ourselves by what we do. You might be a teacher, or a firefighter, or an accountant—“that’s who I am." But God’s plans often lead us outside of the very things we believe define us.
Our ultimate defining identities are not in what we do, but in who we are: children of God. It sounds simple, but it’s a deeply profound truth.
Receiving Jesus and identifying as a child of God isn’t passive. It’s not just slapping on a name tag and continuing life as usual. Taking on that identity is a daily, active decision. It means fully accepting Jesus’ love, authority, and call on our lives.
He gives us the freedom to live beyond labels, past wounds, and even seemingly good things that can hold us physically or emotionally captive. He breaks the chains of people living in poverty, addiction, or grief.
You are no longer a...
