The Mortal Battle
Soul Snack 183/13 ... The Mortal Battle
If you can, imagine ALL the call of heaven upon your life...
- Consider a Christianity less consumed with philanthropy and more devoted to crucifixion.
- Reckon a faith sown to self-denial in daily battle with the flesh.
- Indulge a swipe at comfort as it pleads from and for Babylon.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matt 16:24)
Perhaps some man will say,
How can a man carry his cross? How can a man who is alive be crucified?
Hear briefly how this may be. The fear of the Lord is our cross. As, then, one who is crucified no longer has the power of moving or turning his limbs as he pleases, so we ought to fix our wishes and desires, not in accordance with what is pleasant and delightful to us now, but in accordance with the law of the Lord... he who is fastened to a cross no longer considers things present, nor thinks about his likings...#
Any manner of crucifixion will always command attention BUT the first attention gained must be the disciple's.
If the truth be known, it is far easier to deceive self than deny self.
Today's Soul Snippet:
"The body that is buried to self neither resents insults nor warms to praise." ~ J.O.Hannay
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ENJOY - The Ancient heights ~ A from MyParable
#James O. Hannay, The Wisdom of the Desert ~ (Mesa Arizona, Scriptoria Books 2009), 31