The Kitchen Table Devotions

Day 30

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16:24-26

Always remember that God is interested in our “will” more than our “walk”. We can walk ourselves to church, to the corner, and across the country to be good but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are in God’s will.  People have changed careers, changed jobs, changed neighborhoods and changed churches and have pointed to God’s will when they did it, but they never changed their will for His will.  We’ll even bring in and blame the devil in defending our life’s choices BUT unless we surrender our will for God’s will it won’t really matter.  Peter, in this passage, had just confessed Jesus as the Christ and then tried to persuade Jesus out of the cross.  If Jesus would have listened, we all would have missed out on the will of God.  Denying ourselves involves dying to our will in order to discover His will.  Making this decision is an inside job where we decide in our hearts to live for God’s will rather than our will.  The will of God is a beautiful thing that saves the soul, giving us the right mind with the right motive and the right morals we need to live a fulfilled life.