Discipleship Involves Dying To Self.

Reading:  Mark 8.31-38

Have you ever wondered why Peter took the Lord Jesus to one side to rebuke him?^[1] It happened one day when the Lord Jesus was explaining to Peter and the other disciples that he was going to suffer many things of the Jews, be rejected and killed, and after three days rise again. The Lord in return had to rebuke Peter and called him an adversary (the actual meaning of Satan). The reason seems to be that, while he thought that the Lord Jesus would reign as king, he would be by his side but if the Lord Jesus was going to suffer, he would have to suffer with him. This was something Peter did not want and who can blame him? The Lord went on to explain “Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” ^[2]. The cross in this verse represents the death of self. In the following verses the Lord refers to saving life and losing it. The Christian has two choices, living for self or living for Christ. Only the second option makes a Christian a disciple. He continued by saying that losing one’s life of self goes hand in hand with spreading the Gospel and the end result would be to save one’s life i.e. live a useful life for God with its future reward in heaven. Luke in his Gospel, adds the word “daily” ^[3] and this reminds us that it is an everyday exercise for the Christian to put self to death and seek to live for Christ. The Lord continues with the idea of profit and loss. To gain the whole world yet fail to live for God is loss but living a life for Christ is of far greater value and involves being unashamed of Him.

References:  [1] Mark 8.31-33  [2] Mark 8.34-38   [3] Luke 9.23