MORNING THOUGHTS ☕️:

“If you truly want to FOLLOW ME, you should at once completely disown your own life. “ Mark 9:34

Huh? At once!? Completely!?!

Once again, Jesus doesn’t mince words. He never tiptoes around truth. He’s clear. Concise. Says what he means. We should be more like this. Anyway…that’s not my thought:)

In the notes, it says this verse/statement was SHOCKING to those who were there and heard him say this. And they were standing right in front of him! They’d been with Him. Seen the miracles…and yet, they were shocked.

So, what about us today?

Completely. At once. Disown.

I wish I could tell you that when Jesus said “Follow Me” IN PERSON on May 20, 2008 that disowning my life was all at once. I mean…my “life”, as it was, certainly stopped cold turkey…but I’ve found that fully learning to disown it has taken time and been more gradual then I’d care to admit.

We want to HOLD ON. To fully disown our lives and to fully die to self sounds like one of the most frightening ideas possible. We’ve been conditioned to OWN IT, control it, be in CHARGE of our destiny. If we let go and give it up and turn it over…what in the world will happen to it? Who can we entrust it to?

Verse 35 is the answer:

“For IF you let your life go for my sake…you WILL continually experience TRUE LIFE.”

That seems kind of like that Beach Warning Sign I saw in Maui. Scary on the front end…but trust and take one step and an entire, beautiful world opens up.

xox.eb