👉🏼 (Reading: Matthew 16:22-26)

📜 ""Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.""
Matthew 16:24 (NLT)

📋 Are you following Jesus for an earthly reward only? Peter initially dreamed of being the King's righthand man. When Jesus said he was faced with death. Peter took him aside to tell him that such a thing should be far from him. Jesus sharply rebuked him.

Peter was to lose his life in order to gain God's Kingdom. However, Peter wanted a worldly kingdom as any other non-Christian Jew is still hoping for. Jesus' Kingdom is a spiritual and heavenly one and only those who are transformed through death to self are qualified to rule in it.

Jesus was not meant to rule like the earthly kings do. He warns that trying to save our lives is not safe for a follower of Jesus. Those who lose their lives, their ambitions, their glories for God's sake will find a hundredfold of those things.

Jesus went on to talk about how valuable the human soul is and that it should not be exchanged for anything inferior. Even the whole world is not worth one human soul.

How do you see this life?
Jesus is calling you to pursue the crown he has reserved for you above.
Take up your cross and follow him.

🔑 Key Lesson: Christ's followers see life from his perspective; valuing their souls above what the world offers.

🛐 Meditation and Prayer: Lord, help me to forsake all earthly sinful aims and pursue everlasting life.

📚 Further Reading: Romans 8:5-8.

◼️ The Bible in One Year: Mark 15-16.