The Daily Encounter
"His Kingdom > My Comfort"
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Mark 8:34 ESV
God's Kingdom is greater than my comfort. His purposes matter more than my preferences. His priorities are meant to trump my own.
That's a difficult thing to accept. It's an even harder thing to live. And yet it is the key to an authentic, transformational, and soul-satisfying life.
This was the way Jesus Himself lived and died in submission to the Father's plan. And it's the way that He challenged His followers to live too.
That's why in Mark 8 after He talks about His own coming arrest, rejection, and crucifiction, He immediately gathers the crowd and tells them that anyone who wants to come after Him must "deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mark 8.34). The cross represented His choice to value the eternal Kingdom of His Father more than His temporary comfort and convenience. Because He made that choice, He asks us to make it as well.
So what about you? What does it look like for you to die to yourself today? What personal priorities and preferences do you need to let go of? What plans do you need to lay down in order to fully pursue Christ and His Kingdom?
We can't run towards both at the same time. A choice has to be made. Choose the Kingdom! Choose things that will last forever. Chase things that can never be taken away - not by a pandemic, not by a crash in the stock market, not by a quarantine. Seek the greater things of Christ and allow Him to satisfy your soul both now and forever.
- Pastor Landon
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