Matt 16:24 Come, Deny, Take, Follow

I felt as thought the Holy Spirit was leading me to study something different this morning. Although, upon studying this scripture, i feel somewhat naked without the use of my J. Swaggart commentary, (we only have Romans right now)...he seems to expound upon the scripture in such a way, that it brings actual word pictures to mind. Anyhow, here are some things that i found as i searched this out.

..."if any man will come after me"-
J. Gill stated that this means to be a follower of Christ and mentioned that often the Master will go before. He also said that this was a call to anyone: "poor or rich, learned or unlearned, young or old, male or female," to anyone that has the desire and inclination in their hearts to do so. in other words, this was not a statement made to a select and respected few, as God is not a respecter of persons.

..."let him deny himself"-
i read a lot of comments on this by theologians, and i tend to disagree with some of the statements, but others were right on key. some of them spoke about denying ourselves as, denial of self through simply just not doing things that are sinful or ungodly, (without making mention of the fact that we don't have the power within ourselves to do so...but we have to look to Christ for this power.) However, many made statements aligning with my former proclaimation and agreed...some of their comments were as follows:

J.Gill: "let him deny righteous self, (self righteousness), renounce all works of righteousness (because our righteousness is as filthy rags unto the Lord), to drop all expectations of an earthly kingdom when in competition with Christ." i thought this to be a rather brash and yet crucial statement made. he shown the light on a hidden problem within us all. "when in competition with Christ"...and i realized that there is one that will sit on the throne of our hearts throughout the day, either self, or Christ. if self is throned today, then Christ is not...because there cannot be two masters served in the same house, we will love the one and hate the other. part of denying self, is realizing that we don't want to compete against Christ, the Almighty God...rather, we want to surrender all to Him wholly every moment of every day.

"take up his cross"-
Gill says to "cheerfully receive, patiently bear, every affliction and evil, quietly submit, with entire resignation to the will of God." again, what a profound statement! to resign to the will of God. most of us think of resigning from a current job, when in actuality, when we lay down ourselves and take up Christ...he is our new job, profession, master, boss. so, to resign to the will of God is to quit my old job of serving me and doing what i want to do, and follow a New and Living Way.

here is an word picture that the Lord just gave me: if i worked at Sterling Bank for 5 years, i learned everything that there is to know about being a teller, (at that time), for a bank. When i quit that job to be a homemaker, those abilities and skills that i had there, (some of them could quite possibly be used in different ways,) but THAT profession and what it took to effectively and correctly perform THAT occupation, is not the requirement for being a wife and mom full time. i have different skills i had to learn. different things to be mindful of. my boss is a different one, and He requires more of me than my branch manager did at Sterling Bank. it is the same when we leave ourselves to work for Christ. we have a different uniform that we wear, there are different job requirements, and a new way of life.

Another Commentary book (KJ Bible Comm.) i picked up stated that we should not build our own cross. this means that we are not to "self-inflict" in thinking that because we fast, deny ourselves water, or sugar in our coffee, we are actually "taking up our cross," but rather to allow God to have His way and work in every challenge that we face in our lives. we should through every obsticle in the road, allow God to receive the Glory and let His Power be made known through it all.

i've heard Brother Swaggart say it this way: Self-denial is to deny our own self wants, inabitions, gratifications, will, ability, strength, and understanding. (that's not word for word), but what he is saying is that we must realize that we have no power, but Christ does. we have no ability, except Christ give it to us. we have no method, except the Holy Spirit reveal it to us. If we gain Glory or credit for overcoming or achievement in our lives, we are thieves and robbers. Every good gift comes from ABOVE and there is none good, no, not one...but God.

"and follow me"-
is pretty self explanitory, although many people of commented that this is to behave oneself like Christ, bearing His fruits and mannerisms. i go back to this scripture, Christ is talking about how He is the Vine and we are the branches. He states that we cannot bear fruit, except we abide in the Tree, and then He says a bold and yet necessary statement for man to hear and maintain, "For Without Me, you can do NO THING." we can do not one thing without the help of our Maker.