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). Jesus put forth two requirements necessary to be able to follow Him and be His disciple—deny self and take up your cross. Yet many Christians have let those things become stumbling blocks in their walk with God when they should be steppingstones to becoming more like Jesus and having greater reality in God and His power.

Many have declared to have forsaken all to follow Jesus, but their walk with the Lord is the same as it was yesterday. They are just treading spiritual waters instead of launching out by faith into the deepness of God. They are not moving closer to Him or coming into more reality of divinity. They are not receiving more power with God so they can do more work for Him.

Have you forsaken all to follow Jesus? The Bible says, Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves (II Corinthians 13:5). You must prove your life with the Word of God.

To be like Jesus and follow in His footsteps, you have to surrender all to Him and do as He commands. Jesus gave all when He laid aside His power and glory in Heaven to come to Earth to suffer and die for the sins of the human race. God the Father gave all when His whole heart was nailed to a tree for you and me; and now, the Holy Spirit is giving all. Since the Day of Pentecost, He has been striving to gather together a Bride made fit and ready to meet Jesus when He returns on Rapture Day. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

Grow Up in the Lord

Many Christians are not true examples of Jesus because they have never grown up to become a spiritual man or woman in Christ. They act childish when they don’t get their way. When people hurt their feelings, they refuse to speak to them, carry a grudge or have an unforgiving spirit. Some argue and fight in their home, yet they present themselves to the public in a totally different light.

When some people are persecuted for the sake of Christ, they either become offended and break away from the Lord; or they take matters into their own hands even though the Bible says, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord (Romans 12:19).

So many Christians act like spiritual children instead of acting like Jesus. Paul said, When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things (I Corinthians 13:11). Notice the process Paul illustrated in that verse. When a person speaks or acts like a child, it is because they have immature, childish understanding; and that is the result of immature, childish thinking. Thinking leads to understanding, and understanding leads to speaking and actions.

You Need the Mind of Christ

People who claim to be Christians and yet act so childish have not taken on the mind of Christ. Paul wrote, We have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16). The mind of Christ is our heritage. When Jesus spilled His blood at Calvary, He made that mind available to every child of God.

When Jesus was on Earth, He had a human mind; but it was filled with divine ingredients. He proved it was an all-conquering, victorious mind; yet it was also a completely selfless mind. Jesus was always ready and willing to accomplish the whole will of God regardless of the price He had to pay.

Paul rebuked the members of the Corinthian church for not taking on the mind of Christ and growing up to be spiritual adults. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men (I Corinthians 3:1-3)? The meat of the Word provides a person with the strength, power and spiritual maturity to walk, talk and act like Jesus.

People who are full of envy and strife, cause division, gossip and backbite have carnal minds. They are unable to take in and process the meat of God’s Word, so it does not do them any good or give them any power from On High. They are spiritual babes who can only take in the milk of the Word; so they are helpless, weak and always trying to draw attention to themselves. They think the world revolves around them when their world should revolve around Jesus Christ and the cross He has ordained them to carry for His name’s sake.

Self Can’t Carry Your Cross

When you walk in the will of God, there will be times when He will call on you to do things that, in the human, you do not want to do. He may call you to sacrifice in ways that will cause suffering in your life so souls can be won. He may call you to enter into a fiery furnace of trials and persecutions or to walk a deep valley for His honor and glory.

You will never be able to carry the cross of the Lord without first denying self. Many people have tried to do that, but it only made them miserable; and eventually, they had to decide between the two. That is why Jesus declared, No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13).

Many Christians today are carrying the devil’s cross without realizing it. They are weighed down with unnecessary burdens that are not God’s will. How many times do you let the devil torment you with depression and oppression? Or perhaps you allow fear to get inside and rob you of Heaven’s blessings. The devil has no right to lay his cross on the shoulders of a child of God, and that includes his cross of sickness and disease. When you carry the cross God ordains for you, He will give you the grace and strength you need to carry it for His honor and glory.

God gets no glory from mind battles. The Bible says, Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:5). For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (II Timothy 1:7).

God also gets no glory from diseases and afflictions; He receives glory when people are healed. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up (James 5:15). They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 16:18).

Joseph Gave All

For some Christians, self is not the problem; “Benjamin” is what keeps them from carrying their cross and doing the whole will of God. The book of Genesis explains the concept of having a Benjamin in your life in chapters 37 and 39-45.

Jacob had two wives and many children. He had been tricked into marrying his first wife, Leah, when he didn’t really love her; but he really loved his second wife, Rachel. She bore him only two children, Joseph and Benjamin; and Jacob loved them more than all of his other children. Joseph’s other brothers became jealous and full of envy, so they devised a plan to sell him into slavery. Then they deceived their father and told him that a wild beast had killed Joseph.

Joseph ended up a slave in the land of Egypt, and he suffered much; but God had a plan and was preparing him to be used in a great way. Joseph was a type of Jesus in the Old Testament—he gave all, and he took on Heaven’s humility. Eventually, God gave Joseph much favor, and Pharaoh made him second in command over all the land of Egypt.

Would Jacob Give Up Benjamin?

After Jacob was convinced Joseph was dead, he held fast to Benjamin, his only other son from Rachel. His world revolved around Benjamin, and he loved Benjamin more than anyone, including God; and he didn’t even realize it.

Years later, a famine covered the known world of that day for seven years. When Jacob and his family started running out of food, he sent 10 of his sons to Egypt to buy food; but he kept Benjamin at home by his side because he did not want any harm to come to him. The brothers met Joseph in Egypt; and although he knew them, they did not recognize him, so the Lord used Joseph to test the brothers and Jacob.

After purchasing the corn they needed, Joseph told the brothers they could not return and buy any more unless they brought Benjamin with them. Joseph wanted to know if his brothers were jealous of Benjamin and if they treated Benjamin as they had treated him. Also, God needed to know if Jacob would be willing to move Benjamin out of the way from between him and God.

When the sons returned home and explained to Jacob what the Egyptian ruler, Joseph, had told them, Jacob reacted like a child. First, he blamed his sons for the situation when they were not to blame. Then he claimed life would no longer be worth living if he had to give up Benjamin. Jacob was not thinking of anyone but himself, so God had to hem him into a corner by allowing him and his family to run out of food again and face starvation. It is unfortunate that God has to put some Christians in extreme circumstances to try to get them to put Him first.

Finally, Jacob became desperate enough to allow his sons to take Benjamin with them to Egypt. During that trip, Joseph finally revealed himself to them with love and forgiveness. Then he made it possible for Jacob and his entire family to live in Egypt and be sustained until the famine was over.

Do You Have a Benjamin?

Oh, what a great day that must have been when Jacob was reunited with his son Joseph, but think about all he would have missed if he had not finally given up Benjamin. Many times, suffering helps people put things into proper perspective. It can cause them to devalue the Benjamin in their life and put God first, where He belongs. Benjamin can be anyone or anything that takes priority over God and His will. Do you have a Benjamin in your life?

Like Jacob, some people’s Benjamin is their family or a particular family member. They treat them better and give them more time than they do God. Jesus tells us what He thinks of that mentality. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:37,38). You are not worthy of God if you continue to put your Benjamin before God.

Some people let personal goals become their Benjamin. They devote themselves entirely to their ambitions and never consider God’s divine will for their lives. Jesus said, He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it (Matthew 10:39).

You take a big risk when you leave God out of your life’s plans because most of the time, life will leave you with a broken heart and unfulfilled goals. Even if a person reaches their goals and fulfills all of their heart’s desires and ambitions, would those few years of satisfaction be worth an eternity in hell? Jesus said, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 7:21).

Put Self Down

Jesus made abundant life on Earth and eternal life in Heaven available to all, but you must turn loose of all Benjamins and go God’s way. As for God, his way is perfect (Psalm 18:30). We don’t know what lies ahead, but God does. He has a plan for each life, and He has your best interest in mind; so why not put your trust in Him?

In Mark’s Gospel, we find a rich, young ruler asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. The young man testified that he had kept all God’s commandments from his youth, but Jesus discerned that the young man had a Benjamin in his life—his love for wealth was greater than his love for God and His divine will. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me (Mark 10:21).

Jesus did not really want the young man to go and sell everything he had; He just wanted him to be willing to. Unfortunately, the young man was not willing, even at the cost of eternity. And he [the young man] was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions (Mark 10:22).

Jesus asked, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul (Mark 8:36,37)? Many people invest so much time and effort into building a future established on wealth and material possessions; but in the end, they cannot take any of that with them. The only thing they can take into eternity is what resides in their soul—eternal life through the divine blood of Jesus or eternal death because of sin.

Surrender All

Members of the Bride of Christ are pilgrims and strangers in this world, and they are just passing through. Like Abraham, they are seeking a heavenly country, a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). The Bride has clear, spiritual vision; and as she journeys through this life, her goal is to do the whole will of God and lay up for herself treasures in Heaven. She knows that only what she does for the Lord in love will last for eternity.

The Bible says, But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them (Psalm 103:17,18).

What is in your eternal soul right now? Is it filled with sin and things that displease God? Are you doing or saying anything God would frown on? Is there one thing in your life today that hinders you in doing the whole will of God or keeps you from surrendering all to Him? If so, that one thing will keep you out of Heaven; so you need to surrender all and give your heart to the Lord today. Say the sinner’s prayer right now, which is located on page 5 of this magazine.