Let the Redeemed of the Love Say No!

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

Matthew 16:24-25

Put yourself in the shoes of Jesus' disciples as they heard Him speak these words to them for the first time. Maybe they were expecting a king, a savior, a messiah who would be a conquering ruler over all who opposed Him. Instead they were hearing that to join Jesus and be a follower of Him meant sacrifice. No one was looking for a suffering Savior and they were not ready to hear what He had to say..

21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Jesus' death was necessary so that we could have eternal life. One of Jesus' disciples, Peter tried to tell Jesus that it would never happen, but Jesus let him know clearly that it had to be that way, even though it would not be an easy road.

That's when Jesus looks at all the disciples and tell them that if a person wants to save their life , they must lose it. If I was standing there with the disciples , I would not have totally understood what Jesus meant.

Jesus call us to deny ourselves of the things that the world tries to offer to us. We need to say no ourselves, because God won;t force us to. It's all about a choice. If we truly are redeemed by Jesus, we will choose to follow Him and follow him completely. God rewards us when we make the choice to give up the things we may value and seek after what He values.

26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

The things of this world will pass away. The things of God will last forever and Jesus values our soul more then anything...

There is a song that goes "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so" maybe we could change the words to "Let the redeemed of the Lord say NO " !! No to things of the world and yes to the things that the Lord values..love , patience, peace, joy..against such there is no law!