Are You Following The Lord Daily?

“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

Before you answer that question, give it some thought. I know that most Christians believe that they are properly serving the Lord and following Him to their best ability, but are you truly doing enough. There are a lot of Christians who fail the Lord more than they think, and therefore are not picking up their cross and following Him. Also let us notice the word daily, do you do it daily. The word daily actually means - for the day, or throughout the day, “or "day by day". With this thought in mind, I ask again, how is your walk with the Lord? I wished that believers in Jesus Christ would put this at the top of their thoughts for just one single day and see what thoughts they have collected at the end of the day. Keep a record, or notes throughout the entire day from the time you get up until the time you go to bed. During that day list (honestly) things done for self, things done for others, and things done for the Lord. I believe if we were completely honest, the Lord would have the least in its section. Just because you do something for others does not mean it belongs in the “for the Lord” section. I believe the hardest thing for us to do is to deny ourselves. We are naturally tuned in selfishness because of the fall of Adam. Sin itself is selfishness. If we call ourselves “Christians” then we must compare the definition of the word to ourselves and see if the definition fits our life. The word Christian means – a follower of Christ – and it is often we find people who attend church sometimes, people who just consider themselves Christian, or people who think they are followers of the Lord, calling themselves Christians. I must ask the question here, according to the definition, when one is saved, are those believers in Christ or are they Christians. Maybe these two thoughts need to be more examined in our thinking. Maybe a believer in Jesus Christ should be a “believer” and one who follows the Lord a Christian. (This is just a thought folks, I am not trying to change doctrine.) But maybe we do use the word “Christian” to loosely. Let me ask this question, if a person that is saved and fails to follow Jesus Christ, are they a believer or a Christian? Now, if you are a “Christian” how good of a Christian are you? Jesus said “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself” This self-denial means throughout your day, while you are keeping these three sections, what you did for self, others, and the Lord, check the self-side and see if you denied self-enough for the Lord. Let us see if we denied ourselves enough to say we were “good Christians”. Folks, we indeed use the word Christian to loosely, I believe a follower of Christ is more than a believer in Christ, but also a follower of Christ, putting Jesus first in everything in our day. Before you do anything in life, ask how does it work with my service to Jesus. If a job or a promotion includes affecting your church service or you service to the Lord, it is not worth the promotion. If something will keep you out of church, then it is not worth it. If you are not serving the Lord the most every day you are not doing enough for the Lord. Here is the hardest part for us, every moment of everyday of your life belongs Lord for His benefit. We have no self-time, only Jesus-following time. I know some of you all will ask, how is your daily walk, but my daily walk is not your daily walk. Please understand, you must answer for yourself and no one else. God said “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another...For every man shall bear his own burden.” Galatians 6:4-5 If you use my life to judge or gauge your own life you will fail, but if you use the life of Jesus to measure your own life then you will succeed in being a good Christian. Let me close with this passage, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:11-14