August 19

“And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9: 23 KJV

Dying to self-daily is a concept that most, if not all Christians are familiar with. But what things should be put to the sword? For a long time I was taught and believed that it should be those things we struggle with like selfishness, a bad temper, intemperance, an unforgiving spirit… you get the picture. That is correct theology, the need to want to improve your character to attain one closer to that of Christ. But what if there is more? Let’s take another look.

What of those things, traits, talents, gifts, altogether good things that you don’t need help with? For example volunteering to wash the plates after a family meal; your talent for doing the church books; your singing voice; your consistent tithe and offering giving? These things, even though good, are still not yours and they too need taking to God on a daily basis. Believing that you can do something well, having confidence in your own abilities, having self esteem is necessary to be able to do well, but even this desire belongs to God. The author, Hartman Rector, Jr. says it like this;

"Self-esteem is different than conceit. Conceit is the weirdest disease in the world. It makes everyone sick except the one who has it."

An interesting way of looking at it I thought. For now I will I will leave you with the advice of the apostle Paul;

“I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” 1 Corinithians 15:31

Our song for today is by Chris Christian "Take my life, a living sacrifice".

       

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here