Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Only Real Way to Live

I figure it would be a little prideful for Derek to post his own sermon, but it's okay for me. I know I'm a little biased, but I thought it was really good. It's stuck with me and challenged me this week.  

As a result, little inconveniences have served to remind me that I'm not at the center of the universe...not even my own universe. In Mark 8:34, Jesus says,"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." But taking up the cross doesn't look like my everyday struggles. (As I once thought.)

Jesus took up the only cross that matters, and He proclaimed, "It is finished!" It's not my job to try and earn some form of salvation by struggling to do good things. So what is my part? Jesus. Period. It's not about me. It's about the sufficiency of Jesus Christ in all things. He died on that cross because I couldn't. (Oh, how amazing grace is!) So things like smelly trash, my dog pooping in the floor at 4 am, and a bathtub that seems to lack a drain, are not my cross to bear. But they are great little means to the end of denying myself. 


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