How do you apply this verse as one loving the Lord Jesus?

Question

Luke 9:23
And He said to them, If anyone wants to come after Me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

I appreciate Luke's rendering of this verse because it has a very dear word in it. The word " daily." This kind of way to live the christian life is a day to day thing. Please share on how the Lord has touched you regarding this verse with us.

Ty for taking the time.
Spend however much time to share your portion.

In Christ
sandy

Brother martin
Absolutely beautiful verses... was watered just by reading them
Ty bro:)

Answer 1

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!

John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Answer 2

It's a great verse. We are set apart and called to follow our Lord. Jesus didn't just minister one day a week (Sabbath) He ministered daily.

He was drawn to the relationship He had with the Father. He took time for prayer and the Father's will was clear. So, was Jesus.

Did He tell us it would be easy? No, but He did say that He would never leave us as orphans (Matthew).

Sometimes, He will quiet the storm in our lives, sometimes...He takes our hand and walks through the storm with us.

Jesus saves, forgives and LIVES!!!

This is the season of miracles, Merry Christmas!

Answer 3

I think taking up the cross is symbolic of christs blood and broken body and all co-relates together. To deny yourself...well, what do we do all day but tend to our own needs or the needs of someone that is close to us...yet, Jesus says to follow Him, taking up the cross daily. So my mind turns back to the passover meal where the wine and the bread were used to show His atonement and the scriptures..in essence His body. We are to get over ourselves and take Him up everyday, follow Him into His Word and put that burden which is light and easy on our backs can carry it daily...carry in our hearts, in our minds and carry it to other people. The thing is..when you carry the cross of Christ, you pretty much have to shrug off all the world gives you including the burden of self seeking behavior (addictions, habits, deluded interests, selfishness, material gain and etc) and trust Him instead and in doing so...give to others...that burden is always light...because all we have...He gives us anyway. I also agree with the guy above - Lion of Judah. While I don't believe the Word of God is ambiguous or relative and obscure..I do believe that certain Words can have several meanings that tie into one another. He said...my yoke is easy, my burden light...set yours down and pick mine up...He'll help us to carry it to..just as someone helped Him carry His cross...only ours...leads to eternal life in Him. Love in Christ, ~J~

Answer 4

To deny yourself is deny control of self and be under the Lord's control;

To take up the cross daily is to reckon ourselves crucified in Christ and walk in the Spirit daily; and

To follow Him is to obey what the Lord tells us to do all the time.

God bless you.

Answer 5

(23) Jesus calls everyone wanting to follow Him to do what He will do.

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.

a. Then He said to them all: It was bad enough for the disciples to hear that Jesus would suffer, be rejected, and die on a cross. Now He tells them that they must do the same thing.

b. Let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me: Everybody knew what Jesus meant when He said take up his cross. Everyone knew what the cross was: an unrelenting instrument of nothing but death.

i. The cross wasn’t about religious ceremonies; it wasn’t about traditions and spiritual feelings. The cross was a way to execute people.

ii. We have sanitized and ritualized the cross in these twenty centuries after Jesus. How would we receive it if Jesus said, "walk down death row daily and follow Me"?

iii. Taking up your cross wasn’t a journey; it was a one-way trip. There was no return ticketing; it was never a round trip.

c. Jesus makes deny himself equal with take up his cross. The two phrases express the same idea. The cross wasn’t about self-promotion or self-affirmation. The person carrying a cross knew they couldn’t save themselves, and that self was destined to die.

i. Denying yourself means to live as an others-centered person. Jesus was the only person to do this perfectly, but we are to follow in His steps.

d. Take up his cross daily: Jesus makes it clear that He is speaking spiritually when He adds the word daily. No one could be crucified literally everyday. But they can have the same attitude as Jesus daily.

e. This is following Jesus at its simplest - He carried a cross, He walked down death row; so must those who would follow Him.

Answer 6

I'm not sure you can attribute 'very' as being the word of Luke. A body of work written many decades after an unconfirmed event, then translated several times makes it difficult to belive in the veracity of ANY of it, let alone the emphasis on one key word. Thank evolution for Darwin and Dawkins. Long live mankind.

In humanity

Me

Answer 7

Good morning in the Lord, Sandy.........

Our walk with the Lord is a daily battle........this is why Paul warned us to put on the full armor of God in Ephesians 6.

This "putting on the full armor" is a loving gesture by us to Him.......showing that we are willing to fight the good fight of faith.

Answer 8

I used to have a misunderstanding of Luke 9:23 when I first started out as a Christian five years ago, as it gives the impression that a Christian life is a very difficult and sorrowful life. It's like I need to carry a huge heavy cross on my back wherever I go. I would also feel condemned easily by little mistakes I make, and would tend to see myself as a poor, unworthy worm.

Then, about a year later, my colleague who is a Christian said I have the wrong impresson. She said Jesus' yoke is easy and His burden is light, and not burdensome. Later, I attended her church, which I later began to make it my home church by attending it regularly. It took me some time to see the light of the gospel, as I sit under the preaching of the new covenant of grace, which eventually sets free me from the condemnation of the law.

I have read and re-read Luke 9:23, as well as similar verses in Matthew, Mark and John. I like the way Jesus said it in John 12:26, "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour." So it's not a lonely walk, as if I'm the one doing all the work by my own efforts. Jesus promised He would be with me, and the love of our Father abides in me. That's what gives me the strength to follow Him, for "we love because He first loved us". :)

I believe to deny myself is to deny my own righteousness and trust in His righteousness given to me as a gift. When Paul wrote "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me", it's interesting to note that he continued to write "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." (Galatians 2:20-21)

I believe Jesus' righteousness has qualified me to stand in God's presence without guilt or shame, and it is not my righteousness that makes me acceptable to Him. Now, Jesus my Righteousness lives in me, and I live my life by faith in Him, as it is written "The righteous by faith shall live (or find life)". (Romans 1:17)

So my part is to believe and confess I am righteous by faith daily. That's how I deny myself and take up my cross daily and follow Him - deny my own righteousness and live my life believing I'm righteous in Christ, for He lives in me, and follow the Spirit of life and peace within me. It causes me not to put confidence in the flesh, nor glory in my own achievements, but to count them loss for Christ, "that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." (Philippians 3:1-9)

This will also cause me to know Jesus more and more, experientially, as Philippians 3:10-11 continues: "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." Knowing this changes my mind about what it means to "take up the cross" - it's no longer a burdensome life which I used to think, but a glorious life in which I experience knowing Jesus and His resurrection power, and share in His sufferings that actually gives me strength to endure, knowing He is able to sympathise with my weaknesses. What a wonderful way to live a high life for Jesus. Thanks for sharing your question and thoughts, sister Sandy. :)