“And he said to them, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
The Lord gives the faithful Christian this daily charge found in Luke 9:23. I often wonder if our day by day lives become so regimented, we often lose sight of our daily responsibilities to have the mind of Christ. As we take a look at the world in general, and the church in particular, it seems we need to emphasize some daily living for the Lord. The attitude appears at times, in some folks, if we attend services at 10:00 a.m. on the Lord’s Day, partake of the Lord’s Supper, contribute a few dollars, we are then free to go about the week with our religious duties being fulfilled. Notice what the Lord said in Luke 9:23, “take up his cross DAILY.” Not just on the first day of the week, but every day. Let our coworkers, friends and all who may cross our daily paths see in our lives the teaching which the Master put into practice.
In the Old Testament we see numerous examples of how the man of God was to perform daily; Daily Offerings, (Numbers 28:24), Daily Vows, (Psalms 61:8), Daily Praise, (Psalms 72:15), Daily Blessings (Psalms 68:19), and the list could go on and on with rejoicing, etc.
We can turn to the New Testament and as we look we see many things that serve as examples for us today. Things such as Daily Prayer, (Matthew 6:11), Daily Study (Acts 17:11), and others that I plan to detail further in upcoming weeks. As we take a look as ourselves, let us take note if our daily example will lead lost humanity to the Lord.
To be continued…
For the elders, Tony Williams