Word for the Day March 14 Friday
By: Evang. Cascille
Hammack
"Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God
and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory." Romans
8:17
Paul reminds us that following Christ includes suffering. It is the consequence
of our relationship to God as His children and our identification with Christ. We live as a witness for Him and refuse
to conform to the world. Romans 12:1,2 explains the single minded devotion to God in holiness we must possess and which
is the evidence of a true believer. It says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer
your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform
any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able
to test what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will."
The world system
is evil. Acts 2:40 says, "With many words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from
this corrupt generation." A true believer will love righteousness and hate evil. Hebrews 1:9, "You
have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with
the oil of joy."
There are many rewards and untold eternal glory for following Christ and
there is also a cost. Jesus said in Luke 14:28-33 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not
sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not
able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is
able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send
a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who
does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." And Jesus said in Mark 10:29-31, "I tell you the
truth," Jesus replied, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for
Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children
and fields- and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many
who are first will be last, and the last first."