the basis for the reward

"In Jesus' words, this need for sacrifice of self and obedience to God as the basis for the reward of everlasting life, is expressed as follows, 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it' (Matt. 16:24-25)."

there is always more to do

"We are not told that our debt is paid and there is nothing more to do. We are urged to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, to follow Christ, to obtain spirit-help from the Word of God, and play our part to make it possible that God can be just and yet our justifier."

correct motive of work

Keep "the spirit of sacrifice [as] the motive of your work"!

for the sake of Christ

"Self-denial for the sake of self-denial does no good. Self-sacrifice for its own sake is no religion at all. ...But to do it for the sake of Christ is very different--his love constraining us--turning our conpulsory task into a privelege and a joy--as the virtue of Christ changed the task of Simon of Cyrene, from that which was hateful to that which was glorious."

mortification of ego and exaltation of God

"The prime transformation we must accomplish in our efforts to make our calling and election sure is the mortification of the ego and the exaltation of God to the ruling place in our affections."

how badly do we really want it?

"The eternal reward we claim to treasure so highly and seek so devotedly is perfection, spirituality, holiness, freedom from all the motions and lusts of the flesh, closeness to God, total godliness in thought and action. How badly do we really want this condition, and what are we really willing to give up to get it? If we are not willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING else, and drop everything else in this life to strive for perfection in these divine things, then we reveal that our professed devotion to them and desire for them is shallow and weak. We really want the pleasure of this life and the flesh--and then God later, when this life is over, and the flesh is worn out and has lost its excitement and appeal. Giving up what we have ceased to enjoy is no sacrifice, God wants our best NOW, not our dregs."

depends on our attitude

"The denying of self or the presenting of our bodies as living sacrifices comes hard or moderately easily to us, depending mostly upon our attitude. If the thing or pleasures given up for the service of Christ still beckon appealing to us as we look backward or around on them, we have no altogether sacrificed them. Our sales resistance is not increased by peering longingly into display windows and certainly not by pricing the objects of our admiration. We will always consider it a burden to give them up and will find our journey a wearying one, if we look backward longingly with divided hearts."

God's way of teaching

"Every natural disappointment can and should be a thankful stepping-stone to greater peace with God, for by contrast to all things and persons human it emphasizes the unassailable dependability of that peace. What we grieve over as a loss, or disappointment, or deprivation, may be a great emancipation and deliverance and opportunity, a fresh turn of our lives in a higher and more satisfying direction. God's ways of teaching and correcting us are strange and wise and beautiful. The sweetest, deepest scent is from the crushed flower. Natural disappointment and sorrow can be the golden portal to spiritual joy. Joy that is born of sorrow is a far fuller and stronger-rooted joy. Above all things, never let yourself be sorry for yourself. That is sick, fatal, dead-end folly. That is a reproach on God's love."

count all things but loss

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Phil. 3:7-8).

make sure it is with humility

"To deny self means the same thing as to present our bodies as living sacrifices. But again, how do we deny ourselves? Some think that by doing without certain luxuries and pleasures they are thereby being quite righteous and are denying themselves something they would very much enjoy having. I have even heard brethren boast of the pleasures they denied themselves. This is self-denial in only a superficial sense, and, if a matter of pride, is not sacrifice. Whether we have much or little makes no fundamental difference. There is no virtue in poverty and no sin in riches, so far as they themselves are concerned. What really matters is the use we make of our poverty or riches. The love of money which is the root of all evil can flourish just as vigorously in the poor as in the rich. To deny ourselves means particularly to refuse and to deny all that would exalt self in opposition to God; to bring our own wills into subjection to the perfect will of God; to turn from all things, no matter how innocent and harmless in appearance, which would rob God of our love."

forsake all to follow him

"The love of Jesus contrasted many to forsake all to follow him; to love him more than father or mother; to esteem 'the treasure' of 'the knowledge of the glory of God' greater riches than anything the world can give."

putting all they had at his disposal

"You never find the Apostle Paul... saying, 'Brethren, this is a bad business, and I can offer you no amelioration. What cannot be cured I am afraid will have to be endured.' These men followed [Christ] gladly. Gladly they suffered in his cause, thinking themselves in some way privileged. They did it for the love of him because they were his friends, seeking his interests as he was theirs, putting all they had at his disposal, as he had put all he had at theirs. Having all things common, they were not slaves but friends--and yet in a sense slaves as never before."

deny himself

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." {Matthew 16:24}

offer loneliness

"The loneliness itself is material for sacrifice. The very longings themselves can be offered to Him who understands perfectly (or rather His son). The transformation into something He can use for the good of others takes place only when the offering is put into His hands."

the value of sacrifice

"Service which is sacrificial is done for love's sake."

process of letting go

"There is not ongoing spiritual life without this process of letting go. At the precise point where we refuse, growth stops. If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unwilling to allow it to be used as the Giver means it to be used, we stunt the growth of the [spirit]. It's easy to make a mistake here. 'If God gave it to me,' we say, 'it's mine. I can do what I want with it.' No. The truth is that it is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him, ours to relinquish, ours to lose, ours to let go of --if we want to find our true selves, if we want real life, if our hearts are set on glory."

life requires "little" deaths

"Life requires countless 'little' deaths--occasions when we are given the chance to say no to self and yes to God."

remove from our lives

"We need to remove from our own lives the marks of the life we led before repentance. Each of us is aware of what his besetting sins were, what the allurements and weaknesses of that time were when he walked without God. Let him now take heed to his ways and cleanse his home, his leisure time, his very thinking, of the sings of those old gods. Only by positive thinking and the direct bringing of Christ into everything can this be done. The letter to the Romans put it this way: 'Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill it in the lusts thereof.' If we leave the high places undestroyed we shall find that our waywardness will lead us back to them."

bring our own wills into subjection

"To deny ourselves means particularly to refuse and to deny all that would exalt self in opposition to God; to bring our own wills into subjection to the perfect will of God; to turn all things, no matter how innocent and harmless in appearance, which would rob God of our love."

Go to God

"Always plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without His counsel. He loves to be consulted. Therefore take all thy difficulties to be resolved by Him. Be in the habit of going to Him in the first place--before self-will, self-pleasing, self-wisdom, human friends, convenience, expediency. Before all these have been consulted go to God. Consider no circumstances too clear to need His directions. In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative, temporal or eternal, let Him be supreme."