What is Pride 2

Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24 (NASB)

To “deny himself” means to give up your self-rule. This “self-rule” is one and the same as “pride” in Isaac Watt’s “Wondrous Cross”, and to deny it is to give Jesus the right to reign over your life – over ALL of your life. Jesus’ death on the Cross will set you free (from what?) and He will give you a new, eternal Life – your “richest gain”. You will become a Prince or Princess of God, a precious and royal member of God’s household, and you will receive His amazing, never-ending, love. You must choose the Life He wants for you. God paid a very high price for YOU.

The cross is a thing of death. To “take up your cross” is the complete and total destruction, and yes, the death of your self-rule, the death of your depraved old life.  But it results in a new Life – not a new start, but a NEW LIFE if you will choose Him.  This Life is the Life that Jesus spent over three years showing us what it looks like.  You cannot crucify yourself.  Jesus did it for you.  You may choose not to “take up your cross”. He will not have only part of you – He will not share Himself with your self.  He will not compromise.  The cross does not compromise or yield.  No one will get a pass because she thinks herself to be a good person.  By this world’s standards she may indeed be a “good person” who always does the “right thing”.  By God’s standards she rules over her own life and is destined for Hell.

God searches the heart – the prideful heart is a corrupt, sinful, contemptible thing to Him.  The prideful heart is a stench in the nostrils of God and He will blot it out from His sight.  There is only one way out of this predicament – out of the deep dark hole you are in, even though it is not your fault.  There is help.  Jesus will get down into that dark hole with you – because He knows the way out.  He prepared the way out just for you and He paid a very costly price for it.  But (there’s always a “but” isn’t there?) Jesus is a gentleman.  He will not force you to follow Him out of the darkness.  And it is indeed “darkness”: all of your “stuff”, all of the sex, money, power, promotions, fancy titles, awards for “good deeds” – ALL of it – will fade into absolutely … nothing.

IF you do not wish to “come after Me”, if you don’t believe you’re in darkness, if you do not choose Him – you are doomed to darkness.

Is this too hard?  Is this too difficult? Is there another way out of this jam?

Sorry – no.  The cross always kills.  It always wins the argument. It never compromises. It never gives up.  It never yields to the one who is nailed to it.  It is a thing of death.  It always results in painful, grotesque death. Always. Totally.

“He who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me” Matthew 10:38 “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” Romans 6:6-8

Did you get that?  If you died with Christ you will also Live with Him. Paul’s meaning is that you will live a new life in union in Christ. If ….  So then how did Jesus crucify you?  How did I die with Him? How can I live with Him? ….. I have no Idea – it’s supernatural.  I just believe it. It is faith.

“When I survey the Wondrous Cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.”

Pray for understanding. Pray “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Ephesians 1:17-19 (NASB)

Do you understand? Seek understanding – seek Truth!