"His Voice Today"
November 9
🔸️ The Cross that I am carrying! 🔸️
"Hating oneself" means hating one's "own life" which was inherited from Adam. The meaning of carrying the Cross is to bring this own-life into death. If we hate our self-life firstly, then we can easily destroy it!
Yes, our self-life is the main enemy for the life of Christ. The Bible calls this self-life as "flesh." This flesh is a storehouse for all kinds of evil desires within us! The inducements of all the temptations to fulfill our self-desires...such as seeking for our self.... seeking our own honour... desiring our own happiness.... going in our own way....are departing from this storehouse!!
If we are honest, we can find that even the good deeds we do are tainted with evil intentions. Everything, however, emerges from these polluted desires. Therefore, if we do not hate this "flesh", we would never follow our Lord! This is why, Jesus has spoken much about hating or losing "our own lives." This verse is repeated 6 times in the Gospels (Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 14:26; John 12:25). Even though this verse often mentioned in the Gospels, today the message of this verse is being 'understood' meagre and being preached very little!!
Not seeking our own rights and our own profits, to stop seeking our own self honour, to hate self-ambitions and self-interests .... and to stop looking for such self-ways is the meaning of hating "our own life". Yes, we can be the Disciples of Jesus Christ, only if we are willing to go this way!
Prayer:
Our loving Father! The life of the Lord Jesus is our longing desire! Give us the grace to take our Cross, lose our self-life and to inherit this Heavenly life! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Author:
Brother Zac Poonen
Translated version of the Tamil "Family Meditation Book".
From:-
https://t.me/hisvoicetoday
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