via TJC
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Matthew 16:24-26
As I wrote this DBO I realized that I have been a follower all my life. I have followed my parents, grandparents, friends, what I saw and heard on TV in Movies, on the radio etc... I also chose to be a follower in the Army and followed some good, not so good, bad, and even terrible leaders but I followed nonetheless and had to yield to their authority and direction.
As a soldier you no longer belong to yourself but to your country. You become a piece of property and except for the protections afforded you by the UCMJ and the International Laws of Armed conflict - you have no rights.
I wasn't drafted but volunteered. Once I had signed on the dotted line and lifted my hand and taken the oath of enlistment I belonged to the Army and to those Officers appointed over me and was legally bound to do as I was told or face the consequences.
And the Army knew what they were doing when they got new recruits. We came into a reception station with all the bad haircuts and habits we had brought with us from the civilian world. We all had different childhoods with different family make-ups and came from different places with different customs eating different foods and using different slang. Whether you went to basic training, OSUT for combat arms, Warrant Officer Basic Course, Officer Candidate School or through a Reserve Officer Training Corps everyone was broken down and built back up in the image of a soldier.
The ultimate job of a soldier is to be prepared to go and win the Nation's war. The Expectation is that the Nation will prevail in battle but there is no expectation that the soldiers fighting the wars will all come home.
This is why it is often said that if you served in the military, you wrote a blank check to the nation for "up to and including the value of your life and the sacrifice of your body"
As I read the Words of Jesus above, I see a similar comparison between my voluntary commitment and followership to Christ and the commitment I made to the Army. The only difference is that the Army does a lot of the pruning away of the world and the flesh - than the church does, but God will.
Following Jesus is about denying your flesh and seeking and following the will of the father. If you are afraid for yourself, afraid of what people will think or say about you, or afraid of what standing up for Righteousness and Truth will cost you; then you will never be able to follow Jesus where he wants to lead you. Where he intends to lead us will require laying your lives down and bodies broken. He will lead us into battles for the eternal souls of his children, your brothers and sisters and if you aren't willing to lay it all down for our eternal family members then the place Jesus has gone to prepare is not being prepared for you. If you haven't resolved yourself to that level of sacrifice you should just stop being luke-warm now and just lead a hedonistic self-serving life now because Jesus doesn't mince words In John 15: 18-25 and again in Matthew 10: 34-39
Do you have what it takes to follow Jesus?
Daily Battle Order:
Read the following two verses, meditate on them and then discuss them with your family this week. So go ahead and get your bible and dig into
John 15:16-18 and Matthew 10:34-39
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