Reading your Bible for Today February 18

February 18: Matthew 16:24-26

KJV Key Verse: Matthew 16:26
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Devotion:
If we do want to be true to Christ, then we do have to change our lives from the life that we knew before we knew Him. Each one of us needs to try our best to walk in the same way Jesus did. Each one of us needs to try our best to do what Jesus did – apart from giving our life for the sins of the world because He has already done that. Self-denial may well be our hardest lesson to learn. We do think so much of ourselves as we focus our existence around ourselves. That is the very essence we need to let go of to focus our lives on Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in our everyday lives rather than picking and choosing what we desire all the time.

To “take up our cross” is to take on the work Christ wants us to do rather than pleasing ourselves. We may well think we are hard enough to take on the cross of others, to be able to bear their sins as well as our own. That would break us and we would fall into sin ourselves. Christ has given each of us a simple task – to take up our own cross, not everyone else's!

If we want to be able to carry our own cross, then we are going to need help. He knows we cannot bear it by ourselves and has already paid that debt for us. He wants to guide us and keep us, not for us to flounder under a cross we cannot bear. Following Christ gives us the chance for daily and real assistance from God.

If we try to save ourselves, we are going to get no further than to be able to stand on top of our cross; the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. By thinking we can work our way to heaven, we are assuming we are equal to Christ. We need to release our pride and give our lives back to Christ so we can follow Him and know that we will be lifted up by Him when the time comes. Nothing we can attain on earth will ever pay for our sins!

Points to Ponder:
Who is the strongest Christian that you know?

Nothing they can do will get you to heaven!