CRUX Daily: Give It Up!

Read: Luke 14:25-35

Reflect: The most important relationship that you will ever have is with Jesus. What does Luke say here about where needs to be in your life? Where does Jesus rank in your life now? In order for you to be the best husband or wife is by loving Jesus now!

Request (Prayer): Jesus, help me to give You my undivided attention and to make You number one in my life.

Have you ever had to give up something that was so hard to let go of? Just recently, I made a bet that I would not eat sweets for 2 weeks. And it killed me! I had to let go of eating any sweets at all, so that I could win. I couldn’t have any ice cream, brownies, cookies, candy, nothing! It was devastating, I felt as though part of my life had been thrown away…ok not really, I’m just being dramatic.

Giving up something is not easy to do but it is necessary at times. Why? It helps us evaluate whether that thing is an idol or if we can really go on without that thing.

Think about something in your life that you like to do or that you like to have. Now think about taking that thing out of your life and see whether or not you can live without it. Maybe it’s video games, texting, television or the Internet? Can you live without any of those things?

Jesus said, in paraphrase, “Look, if you want to be My disciple, if you want to follow Me, you have to live without everything else that you had before following Me.” Why would Jesus say that? He said that because Jesus knew that these people really cared about their life, yet those things they loved were not pleasing to God.

Has God told you to get rid of something in your life that is not pleasing to Him? Have you listened? It’s important that we understand that God does not take things away because He hates us, He does because He knows it’s harmful to us and is looking out for us.

The cost of following after Christ is huge, but it’s also the best way of living. Are you ready to forsake the things of the world to follow after Christ?