Daily Devotional For Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Good morning Southside! It is hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner. We are making our way through Matthew’s Gospel. Yesterday, we had part 1 of our current passage and today we come to part 2. We are currently in Matthew 16:21-28:

“From then on Jesus began to tell His disciples plainly that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem, and that He would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead. (22) But Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such things. ‘Heaven forbid, Lord,’ he said. ‘This will never happen to You!’ (23)  Jesus turned to Peter and said, ‘Get away from Me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to Me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.’ (24) Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Me. (25) If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. (26) And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? (27) For the Son of Man will come with His angels in the glory of His Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. (28) And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom’” (NLT).

We are starting today in verse 24, where Jesus lays out the terms of discipleship for all believers and future disciples. Recognizing and confessing faith in Jesus as the Messiah is only the beginning of one’s discipleship. It is not enough to believe Jesus is God’s Messiah because even the demons believe that (see James 2:19). To be a disciple of Jesus, your life must be characterized by three attitudes or attributes:

1. You must have an intentional willingness to deny self. To deny oneself means to surrender immediate material gratification in order to discover, experience, and secure one’s true self and God’s interests. It is a willingness to let go of selfish desires and earthly security. You intentionally switch pronouns from “me” to “He.” This intentional attitude turns self-centeredness into God-centeredness. “Self” is no longer in charge; the Savior is. Unfortunately, some unintentional and well-meaning disciple mentors have interpreted this to mean your personality is dissolved or unseen in your discipleship. Some have interpreted this to mean all your dignity, self-worth, and self-esteem is stripped away from the disciple. Yes, we deny self, not kill it. It is Christ’s personality that works through your personality to be His witness in the world with the Gospel.
2. You must have an intentional willingness to take up your cross. To take up the cross was a vivid illustration of the humility and submission that Jesus was asking of His followers. When Jesus used this example of his followers taking up their crosses to follow him, the disciples got the picture – crucifixion. Death on a cross was a form of execution used by Rome for what they considered to be dangerous criminals. A prisoner carried his own crossbeam to the place of execution, signifying submission to Rome’s power. In just one day, Rome crucified over 6,000 criminals from Spartacus’ rebellion along a 120 mile trek called the Appian Way.
3.  You must have an international willingness to follow Christ. Following Jesus, therefore, meant identifying with Jesus and His followers, facing social and political oppression and ostracism, and no turning back and even martyrdom if required. For some, taking up the cross might indeed lead to one’s own death. But Jesus’ words meant that his followers had to be prepared to obey God’s Word and to follow His will no matter what the consequences. There could be no turning back or away. We must count the cost and be prepared to pay it. Soon after this, Jesus would take up his own cross. Jesus was speaking prophetically here as well. This means to follow Jesus requires at times a moment-by-moment decision as situations and circumstances change. To follow Jesus does not mean we follow behind Jesus; it means we walk the same path He did of sacrifice and service to others.

Loyalty is rare today to anything, except maybe our favorite sport teams. Most people are loyal to themselves. They protect themselves. They serve themselves. They cater to themselves. Their first question is often, “What is in it for me?” Jesus said if we attempt to save our life, we will lose our soul. The word translated as “life” is the Greek New Testament word [ψυχή; psuche]. This is where we get our English words “psyche, psychology, psychiatrist.” This refers to a person’s personality with all its hopes, dreams and goals. The person who attempts to save their own life, forfeits salvation from God and eternity in heaven with God. 

But the opposite is true for the person who gives up their life to Christ, even if it means martyrdom, they receive salvation, an abundant life here and eternity in heaven with God the Father. In Jesus’ day to “lose one’s life” for Christ implied you were on trial for sharing the Gospel. New Testament scholar Bruce B. Barton writes this:

“To be willing to put personal desires and life itself into God’s hands means to understand that nothing that we can gain on our own in our earthly lives can compare to what we gain with Christ. Jesus wants us to choose to follow him rather than to lead a life of sin and self-satisfaction. He wants us to stop trying to control our own destiny and to let him direct us. This makes good sense because, as the Creator, Christ knows better than we do what real life is about. He asks for submission, not self-hatred; he asks us only to lose our self-centered determination to be in charge” (Source: Bruce B. Barton, The Life Application Bible Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 333).

Authentic discipleship requires our lives, all of it. There can be no middle ground, straddling the fence or wishy-washiness with our commitment. If we try to save our lives from pain, persecution, discomfort, we could lose our life for all eternity. When Jesus told His disciples they had to take up their cross, they probably never thought of an actual cross. They probably thought more abstractly that this was a metaphor about giving their whole life to follow Him. Tomorrow we will conclude with part 3 of this passage. So, what are our crosses today? New Testament scholar Kent Hughes writes this:

“What are our crosses? They are not simply trials or hardships. It is typical to think of a nutty boss or an unfair teacher or a bossy mother-in-law as our “cross.” But they are not.… A cross comes from specifically walking in Christ’s steps, embracing his life. It comes from bearing disdain because we are embracing the narrow way of the Cross.… It comes from living out the business and sexual ethics of Christ in the marketplace and world. It comes from embracing weakness instead of power. It comes from extending oneself in difficult circumstances for the sake of the gospel” (Source: Kent Hughes, Preaching The Word, “Mark: Jesus, Servant And Savior,” p. 202). 

Assignment: When have you experienced being disdained or persecuted or mocked for your walk with Christ? If you haven’t, either you look too much like the world and/or you are ashamed of being a disciple. What areas in your life have been the hardest or the most challenging for you to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? 

Scripture To Meditate On: Luke 9:23-26, “Then He said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. (24) If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. (25) And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? (26) If anyone is ashamed of Me and My message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when He returns in His glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me to follow You wherever You wish to take me, even if it costs me my physical life. I want to gain You God more than anything or anyone. I want my life to resemble Your life Christ. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly