Bible Verse of The Day – 6-26-23

Luke 9:23 (NKJV) 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

The world is a funny place.

It will tell us lots of things to make us feel good about ourselves.

It will say that we are number one, and that we should put ourselves before anyone or anything else.

It will tell us that we’re special, and that how we feel is what matters. Everything else is secondary.

It will tell us that our feelings about ourself are important, that our self-esteem should be high so we don’t get down about our lives.

It will tell us so much more, and it all revolves around making us the center of our own lives.

Much of this has spilled over into the church. Even some pastors are repeating these things. Some might even give it a “Christian twist” to make it more palatable and appealing to followers of Christ.

But Jesus seems to have something different to say about it; “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself”.

That is a far cry from putting ourselves front and center at every possible opportunity.

Christianity isn’t supposed to be like icing on a cake… always sweet and pleasant. It will have its moments and seasons when it is very sweet. But it is not always that way.

There are things that we may have to face, and some things that we may have to endure, if we are to walk this walk as a child of God.

This doesn’t mean that our lives will always be gloom and doom, cloudy and dark. Walking with God has many, many blessings. And our joy is found in Him!

But we must live our lives knowing that there will be times when our faith costs us. And we should be willing to pay the price, no matter what that price is.

This is part of being a mature believer; a believer with Holy Spirit-inspired understanding and the willingness to sacrifice our own preferences, comfort and wants if God places us in situations that require us to.

And as we do this, as we walk this straight and narrow path, let us find our joy in knowing that He is worth every sacrifice we have to make, every trial we must endure and every hard battle that we have to fight.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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