Today's Scripture Luke 9:23
Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’
A war rages inside each of us. The desire to do right is at odds with the desire to do wrong.
We each struggle with the temptation born of our fleshly nature. Sin comes naturally to our “old man,” the person we were before we made Jesus our Savior.
When we come to Jesus, the Spirit of God calls us to be more like Him. We have been crucified with Christ – dead to sin and alive in Christ. We put off the former sinful conduct we once practiced with its passions and desires. We are no longer powerless slaves to sin.
If we go after Jesus, we deny ourselves – say no to the desires of our sinful nature. We take up our cross every day – put to death anything that would rise in opposition against God. We follow His example – in our attitudes, our speech, our actions.
Our old nature wars against our new, but we do not battle alone! The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us now. He empowers us to put the old man to death. We need not fear that we will slip back into the bondage of sin. If God is for us, nothing can stand against us.