Used with permission
During Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, many followed Him wherever He went. From place to place, multitudes followed Jesus Christ for what they could get from Him. People were captivated by Jesus’ provision of food, His healing of the sick, and other marvelous works He did for them. But Jesus knew their hearts. So, when Jesus Christ exposed their main problem, the Bible says that many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Jesus Christ does not promise that if we follow Him, we will be healthy, wealthy, and wise. He did not promise fame and prestige. The Bible says,
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
This enigmatic statement of the Lord Jesus Christ is hard to accept by those people whose eyes are fixed on temporal things of earth. In Christianity, for one to gain Christ, they must first lose the world.
One of the biggest mistakes of many Christians nowadays is they allow themselves to be influenced by the world resulting in fruitless, Christian lives. Instead of Christians influencing the world, they let the world influence their thoughts, pursuits, and decisions in life.
Let us not be like the world, but rather, we should be like our Lord Jesus Christ and we should be faithful in doing His will because in Matthew 16:27 Jesus said, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”
Philippians 3:7 “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”