What is my daily routine as a follower of
Christ? To follow him.
How do i follow him in my daily routines?
Let me get the answer straight from the words of Jesus himself. In luke 9:23
,Jesus says,"If anyone wants to come after me ,let him deny himself ,takeup
his cross daily and follow me."
This means rejection and death to desires of the self which are sinful and willing submission to live according to the commands and teachings of Christ.The self here represents the sinful self,carnal nature.This self is ruled by it's appetites ,wants and needs. The self craves to satisfy itself in many ways apart from God.The cravings of the self are called lusts. These lusts when fulfilled gives satisfaction to the sinful self but the whole process and the end result is sin.The lust filled slave of sin never thinks he is bad .He just thinks he is normal.For that is what is normal according to this world.This
attitude of the self is called pride. Pride and lust are glorified, advanced and propogated by satan through family,society,media etc.The proud and lust filled man cannot and does not submit to God.
Paul in his epistle to the galatians 5 describes the manifestations of the carnal nature.They are the fruits of the flesh or carnal nature.The self which is nothing but the sinful nature stands in opposition to the ways and character of
God.So if you want to do what God says you have to naturally and logicaly deny the self ;the cravings , ambitions ,plans of advancement ,fulfilment of the self. Now how can anyone deny himself what he is addicted to? If he tries to
deny his self in his own strength ,he is unable to sustain the abstinance and goes back into self indulgence.The reason for this phenomenon is the human beings slavery to sin .In other words he is a slave of sin.That is his nature.So
to be freed from sinful nature and acquire a new nature is essential and necessary.But how can that happen ?Be certain of one thing ,it cannot be accomplished by the self.You cannot free yourself from your sinful nature.God
has the solution for this problem and everyone who wants deliverance from his sinful nature has to come to him.
But many don't even think they are wrong or sinful.Don't worry! God keeps calling people helping them to know their own sinfulness.This work of the HolySpirit is called convicting people of their sinfulness.When a man responds
to the conviction of the holy spirit with repentance and faith in Christ ,seeking forgivness for his sins,God forgives and cancels his sins and the holy spirittakes residence in that person.God accepts him as his child.This process is Called spiritual birth and who are spiritually alive are called "Bornagain".After the spiritual birth comes spiritual growth.
1
During the process of spiritual growth,the spiritual nature grows by the work of the holy spirit as the man is transformed more like Jesus.This transformaton is an ongoing process.The new nature nature with the help of the holy spirit can only be brought out when the old sinful carnal nature is denied the oppourtunity to respond to any situation or stimuli that comes about in everyday life.On a daily basis when the old nature is denied and we respond with the new nature and obey the commands of Christ and follow him.This is easily written and discussed as practising it very difficult but not impossible as the holy spirit is in the believer.
As the old nature is denied oppourtunity to respond ,the devil continually attacks you and the world starts to hate you for not confirming with it's values as expressed by the old nature.The believer must bear this suffering to the point of death or else he will be dragged back into the old life and worldly pattern for fear of suffering or death that may come
the way of living the new life.So without denying the oldnature and bearing the suffering or death that comes the way of
such a denial,it is impossible to follow christ.Denying the self and bearing the suffering are prerequisites for following
Christ to the end.This is the daily grind of christian life.Denying the old nature ,taking up the cross of suffering and
then obeying the commands of Christ. If you want to really follow christ, then this central teaching should find
expression in every aspect of your life.The new nature expressions are described in the Galatians 5 as the fruit of the spirit.The expressions of the fruit of the spirit in different areas of life includesgoodstewardship,right relationship,fellowship with other believers ,Witnessing, helping the poor and needy,making a stand against prevalent sins in society like bribery,making a stand in campus life against all forms of ungodliness and so on.
In the light of the revelation of scripture on discipleship and it's practical day to day application ,how will you decribe your life? Are you his true disciple?
Christ? To follow him.
How do i follow him in my daily routines?
Let me get the answer straight from the words of Jesus himself. In luke 9:23
,Jesus says,"If anyone wants to come after me ,let him deny himself ,takeup
his cross daily and follow me."
This means rejection and death to desires of the self which are sinful and willing submission to live according to the commands and teachings of Christ.The self here represents the sinful self,carnal nature.This self is ruled by it's appetites ,wants and needs. The self craves to satisfy itself in many ways apart from God.The cravings of the self are called lusts. These lusts when fulfilled gives satisfaction to the sinful self but the whole process and the end result is sin.The lust filled slave of sin never thinks he is bad .He just thinks he is normal.For that is what is normal according to this world.This
attitude of the self is called pride. Pride and lust are glorified, advanced and propogated by satan through family,society,media etc.The proud and lust filled man cannot and does not submit to God.
Paul in his epistle to the galatians 5 describes the manifestations of the carnal nature.They are the fruits of the flesh or carnal nature.The self which is nothing but the sinful nature stands in opposition to the ways and character of
God.So if you want to do what God says you have to naturally and logicaly deny the self ;the cravings , ambitions ,plans of advancement ,fulfilment of the self. Now how can anyone deny himself what he is addicted to? If he tries to
deny his self in his own strength ,he is unable to sustain the abstinance and goes back into self indulgence.The reason for this phenomenon is the human beings slavery to sin .In other words he is a slave of sin.That is his nature.So
to be freed from sinful nature and acquire a new nature is essential and necessary.But how can that happen ?Be certain of one thing ,it cannot be accomplished by the self.You cannot free yourself from your sinful nature.God
has the solution for this problem and everyone who wants deliverance from his sinful nature has to come to him.
But many don't even think they are wrong or sinful.Don't worry! God keeps calling people helping them to know their own sinfulness.This work of the HolySpirit is called convicting people of their sinfulness.When a man responds
to the conviction of the holy spirit with repentance and faith in Christ ,seeking forgivness for his sins,God forgives and cancels his sins and the holy spirittakes residence in that person.God accepts him as his child.This process is Called spiritual birth and who are spiritually alive are called "Bornagain".After the spiritual birth comes spiritual growth.
1
During the process of spiritual growth,the spiritual nature grows by the work of the holy spirit as the man is transformed more like Jesus.This transformaton is an ongoing process.The new nature nature with the help of the holy spirit can only be brought out when the old sinful carnal nature is denied the oppourtunity to respond to any situation or stimuli that comes about in everyday life.On a daily basis when the old nature is denied and we respond with the new nature and obey the commands of Christ and follow him.This is easily written and discussed as practising it very difficult but not impossible as the holy spirit is in the believer.
As the old nature is denied oppourtunity to respond ,the devil continually attacks you and the world starts to hate you for not confirming with it's values as expressed by the old nature.The believer must bear this suffering to the point of death or else he will be dragged back into the old life and worldly pattern for fear of suffering or death that may come
the way of living the new life.So without denying the oldnature and bearing the suffering or death that comes the way of
such a denial,it is impossible to follow christ.Denying the self and bearing the suffering are prerequisites for following
Christ to the end.This is the daily grind of christian life.Denying the old nature ,taking up the cross of suffering and
then obeying the commands of Christ. If you want to really follow christ, then this central teaching should find
expression in every aspect of your life.The new nature expressions are described in the Galatians 5 as the fruit of the spirit.The expressions of the fruit of the spirit in different areas of life includesgoodstewardship,right relationship,fellowship with other believers ,Witnessing, helping the poor and needy,making a stand against prevalent sins in society like bribery,making a stand in campus life against all forms of ungodliness and so on.
In the light of the revelation of scripture on discipleship and it's practical day to day application ,how will you decribe your life? Are you his true disciple?
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