Abandon

I am not a Reality TV fan.  Maybe you are, and that’s ok; I just personally do not get excited about these shows.  However, I did catch an episode of The Biggest Loser the other night and became intrigued.  This show is a very serious competition and in order to progress to the next week, you MUST give up something.  You must make sacrifices; to lose the weight, to improve your health, to win the cash prize.  I therefore must ask, is the Christian walk much different?  To be a great servant of Jesus Christ we are first called to give something up.  We are called to make sacrifices, give up our selfish ambitions, improve our spiritual health, and to finish the race and receive the prize Christ has for us (Which is Christ Himself!).  Look at Peter and Andrew when Christ called them; they left their nets behind and followed him.  Elisha in 1 Kings 19 slaughtered his oxen and burned his plowing equipment to follow Elijah.  In each of these cases there was a denial of self, and a pursuit of God’s will.  Luke 9:23 is the theme verse of Disciple Now:  Abandon and it reads:  “Then Jesus said to them all:  ‘if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’”  Each of us has things in our life that we must abandon for the sake of the Gospel.  Are we willing to give these things up for Christ?  Is He worth it?  I pray for each of us we realize how worthy He truly is.  When we realize daily how worthy Christ is, we will gladly abandon our lives for His Kingdom and His People.