Abandon: Living a Cross-centered life.

    April 22nd, 2012 I was reading one of those devotion books. I don't remember which one and usually I'm not a fan of them. But, this particular day God had something for me. A slap in the face. The verse the devotion had me read was Luke 9:23 "And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."" The devotion went on to talk about the word abandon. It said something about the greatest word Jesus ever could have told His people was abandon. I spent the morning thinking about that word. It is kind of a strong word.

a·ban·don/əˈbandən/

Verb:	Give up completely (a course of action, a practice, or a way of thinking).
Noun:	Complete lack of inhibition or restraint.
Synonyms:	verb. leave - relinquish - forsake - quit - give up - desert noun. abandonmen         To completely give something up. It cant be that hard, right? Reality check! It is that hard. Jesus wasn't telling them to abandon just anything. He was telling them to abandon themselves. He expects us to deny and abandon everything. For me this is hard. I have a lot of idols in my life that I put above Him. body image Shopping Movies my family Those are just a few examples. Although it may not seem that hard to let go of these things it totally is. For me the hardest one is the idol of body image and what people think of me. It's always on my mind and I am always wondering what else I can do to look better and be seen as a better person. God is calling me to ABANDON these things. Most of you know that I have a small tattoo on my wrist that says abandon. It is my daily reminder to let go of everything and allow God to lead me. If I want to live a cross centered life everyday I have to pray about it everyday. Its not something that just happens. It is something you have to be proactive about. Taking it one day at a time and releasing your days and worries to God is how its going to happen. Also, being in His word. We cant expect to be able to live this cross centered life and abandon our idols without being in regular relationship with our Lord.  He is the creator of the universe and he has defeated sin. We just have to abandon our idols and sins and give it all to Him. I think one of the first steps for me is realizing that I am a bigger sinner then I dare believe. I cant even fully comprehend how much of a sinner I am. And so are you! And once we realize that, we are able to bask in the FACT that Jesus died on the cross and those sins died with him. We are holy and blameless before Him as believers. "...even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will..." Eph 1:4-5 We are adopted sons and daughters and we are called beloved! What an amazing thought. The creator of the entire universe chose YOU and predestined You and adopted You and forgave You and loves YOU! I love you friends and I pray for you and hope this encourages at least one person! I am so encouraged by these gospel truths!