Though the Cost Be High

Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me. — Luke 9:23

Anything worth having, costs. Cars and houses cost. So does a college education. And so do relationships. In friendship, parenting, and marriage, we give up some of our preferences, we learn to compromise, and we often allow the other person’s needs and desires to be more important to us than our own. And we do that in our relationship with Jesus too.

We pray for Jesus’ will to be done on this earth. We give control of our lives over to Him. Jesus called this kind of cost “denying ourselves.” We deny our wishes and our will, yielding to His wishes and His will for us, trusting that His plans are better than ours. Such self-denial reflects our godly submission to the One we call Lord. Such self-denial involves following Jesus’ teachings and His example, being willing to experience rejection and possibly death for Him. We commit to following Jesus’ teachings and example even though the cost may be high.

But anything worth having, costs.

Lord, thank You for denying Yourself and giving Your life for my salvation, amen.

Excerpted with permission from The Beautiful Word Devotional, copyright Zondervan.

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Your Turn

Is the cost high for you? You’re following Jesus and have experiences harsh words, great losses, and battles that chipped away at your heart. Jesus is worth it! Come share your thoughts with us about our King Jesus on our blog. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily