Firstly, what are discipleship and its cost?

What is the reward of discipleship?

Secondly, what is the meaning of denying oneself?

Lastly, what crosses are we asked to carry?

Jesus never underestimated the agony He and all those who follow Him are to go through. Jesus gives us hope that these form of sufferings are temporary. When the 'baby' is born, for Jesus was His resurrection from the death. The labour pain was His passion and death. After the great agony would comes the triumph, when all physical pains and world troubles cannot torment or affect our lives again. That is to say, that it is worth while, after only a short span of suffering, comes eternal glory and joy.

By our thoughtfulness, compassionate attitudes and actions, people would be able to see the Christ in us.

That is the fundamental elements all True Christian must have. It is not so much as falsehood and pretension or struggle. But the power of love comes not from our sinful hearts, but the reflection and manifestation of the present of the Holy Spirit that works in cohesion and unity with our pure human nature, struggling to eliminate the sins that still live in cohesion with the sinful desire and nature in us. This is the work of Sanctifying Grace, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, penetrating the sinful hearts of mankind and purifying them.

Loving ourselves is a natural instinct all mankind is capable of. For we ought to be thankful for being unique. 'Look at all the plants and flowers in the garden! See how unique, different and special each specie is'. God created all of us special and unique. God gives each one of us different types of faces and physical appearances. God showers each of us with different talents and gifts, especially spiritual gifts for inner growth. Natural talents and gifts are entrusted to each one of us for building the world we lived in. God created the world in six days as described, yet He continues His works, using the wisdom, knowledge, skills and strength of man.

All the magnificent structures that were or are being erected are God's works, through the mind of mankind.

All the modern technologies and inventions that brings about a better quality of lives, are God's wisdom at work in the mind of man.

God continues with His plan of covering the surface of the earth with human beings, by His marvelous plan of pro-creation, within the framework of marriage.

God's plan is always for the good of mankind, but the Devil manipulated the minds of those who are bound to stray to create chaos, disasters, immorality, confusion, etc to what are supposed to be good.

The human pure spirit, in unity with God, versus the sinful human spirit, in unity with the Devil.

The first union, brings about great benefit to the world, in contrast to the second union, which brings about great loss to the world. One built, the other destroys.

Those who could not love themselves, would hate God for creating them and condemning their parents for bringing them into this world. By this they would waste their lives, rebelling against the family rules, love and guidance. They would hate the society of which they dwell. They think and act suicidal and to them lives are not worth living. These group of people could not respond positively to moral and religious education and upbringing.

Can we blame them, or should we blame the family, society or the systems of the 'world' for these outcome?

There are others who loved themselves too much, even to the extend of self-proclaiming themselves as god. They thought they can chart and destined their future.

They do not care for the well-beings of others but themselves. If they could, they would rather live a life, in seclusion enjoying what natures have to offer, without sharing them with others.

If forced to live with others, they would exploit and use others to the limit.

But what does Jesus mean by 'love yourself'. There are two natures in a human being. That is the sinful nature, that enjoys the company and false friendship of the devil, whereas the other is the pure human nature that longs and desires for God and His company. To love ourselves mean to satisfy the will and desire of the pure human nature and spirit. That pure human nature and spirit which was God's essence that still dwell among mankind. After the fall, the devil was not allowed to rob all. God willed that pure nature would still exist amidst the sinful nature. God let our freewill decide for the good of the souls.

What is the meaning of cross? What are we suppose to carry as cross, instructed by Christ?

Only, if we understood, what the three crucial points of discipleship, then the 'Cross' of which we are to carry is a gift and blessing from God, rather than the opposite.

What is discipleship?

Jesus demanded, true discipleship, which required sacrificing our lives, all its worldly pleasures and joy to follow the rugged ways of the cross.

This demanded that we put God first above all things, just like Christ did.

He sacrificed the peak of His life to follow the ways of God, His Father.

He sacrificed His flesh, in order to glorify the Spirit.

Jesus said that,

What did Jesus mean by that?

The world was already in a great mess and its virtues and values collapsing. Did Jesus come to aggravate the situation?

Jesus is not emphasizing on the physical, but rather spiritual. He is talking about the spiritual warfare and the only hope is to welcome His Spirit into our lives.

What did Jesus mean by saying, "No, not peace but division".

Before Jesus public ministry, the people that belong to the 'world', had adopted to the ways of 'blindness' whereby, everyone of them is like a 'blind leading a blind'. If the blind, mysteriously receive sight, what awe and amazement, he would be to see the world with his new found sight.

Therefore when Jesus came, 'darkness', turned to 'light'. The people rebelled and rejected the ways Jesus taught them. Acceptance of 'darkness' leads to rejection of 'light'. In the flesh of mankind there was a spiritual warfare between the sinful nature and the pure human nature.

Set the world on fire is a great purification by the 'fire' that sprang out of His Sacred Heart. The 'fire' of Love that reinstate in the world in the empowerment and working of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was the "Words' of God. Whatever Jesus spoke, God spoke. God was incarnated into the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore by this mystery, Jesus was truly God and Man. God spoke through the person of Jesus Christ as Man.

Before God revelation, through Christ Jesus, as at the time of the Old Testament, God was unreachable. Mankind tried to take what had been passed down as oral doctrines and those written down in the Scripture, very seriously.

Only after the coming of Jesus, then the mystery of God was slowly unfold. Jesus Public Ministry as Savior of mankind in His physical form, only lasted a few years. God had a better plan install for all mankind. Jesus wants to dwell in the hearts of mankind. Jesus wants to share our suffering, joy, triumph and as a whole, He wants to be part of our lives. Therefore, He returned to the Father. United with the Father, in a bond of Divine Love, He wants to share this bond with all Children of God. This bond of Love is the Holy Spirit. He wants to give His Life as God, to mankind. Therefore God charted a New and Everlasting Covenant sealed by the Blood of the Lamb of God. With this New and Everlasting Covenant of which our part as Man is to respond. Entering this New Covenant require the giving of ourselves to God. As God gives Himself fully to this Covenant, so we had to do our part. Breaking this Covenant of Love is therefore a great sins of adultery.

When Jesus came, He revealed about God. God was all in all. Creation was dependent on Him, for life and survivor.

God demanded the Truth, be revealed, that all glory, honor and praise belongs to Him alone. No creation can ever claim praise, glory and honor for themselves, accept directed toward God alone.

For, we are partakers in His Divine Providence and His plans.

Without God, there is no life. All creation, received its will to live, because God gave them His Spirit to function accordingly.

Although, plants, trees, birds, animals, fishes, insects, etc, do not have God's Spirit inside of them, but they were sustained by God's Spirit.

True discipleship, mean having knowledge of where we came from, where we are now and where we would be going, after these lives.

If we had knowledge of all these, together with God's gifts of wisdom, we would have made the right decision.

When we put God first, above all created things or beings, God would put us first together with all our troubles, worries and all, whom we owe our care to. God would fully satisfy our needs and desires that is God's initiated in contrast to sinful flesh initiated.

Jesus said that, He came not be bring peace but war in the families or between loved ones.

True disciples, are to live as Children 'called out' of this world. Consecrated for Divine purpose. For the mission of redemption and salvation. By this zeal, commitment and enthusiasm, would leads to clashes, if we are dwelling among children of this 'world'. They would have contradicting views and values about lives.

(John 20-22)

What is the meaning of denying oneself?

Human being is made up of body, soul and spirit.

We all have impure and tainted body, whereby our human spirit is dwelling in cohesion with other impure and sinful spirits. These spirits are hidden from our human sight and senses, but by our words uttered and actions these spirits, are manifested. If we are just indifferent to these outward signs, we are really doing injustice to our souls, that demand the company, love and Spirit of God alone.

Like the moon received its light and is beautiful, because its light was reflected from its source, that is the sun. It is also the same with our souls. They shall be bright, pure and sparkling, white as wool and clear as crystal, if God's Spirit, is dwelling in them.

Human beings, before the fall, had pure human spirit, soul that lived in cohesion and harmony with God's Spirit. After the fall, sins enter into our once pure human spirits. The Devil was very happy indeed to sow weeds, into that precious plot of 'land', that God gave us. Sinful and evil spirits began to grow, if we allow them. The outcome was the land, that was once planted with wheat, had weed, growing alongside, sucking the nutrients, that were meant for the crop.

When we are too attached to the value, material, wealth and treasure of this world, they became a power, that would enslave our souls and retard spiritual growth. These power, that we cannot live without, would become a god or goddesses of our lives. These power suppress, oppress, torment and might even kill the souls, bringing about spiritual death. Spiritual death is eternal death, caused by a terminal mortal sins. Anything that comes between us and God is sin. Mortal sins are very serious sins. Deathly mortal sins are sins committed against the Trinity Godhead. Therefore called the Sin against the Holy Spirit. The complete rejection of God's love and His plan. For the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. By rejecting the Holy Spirit, mankind in fact rejected God. Even people of other religions were given equal opportunity to inherit the Kingdom of God, together with disciples of Jesus Christ if they would bow down and worship Him, when they finally saw Jesus, at the Gate of Heaven. Prophets and Enlightened Ones of God, would intercede for their disciples to God. We ought not to be surprised, to see Prophets and Holy Men, who initiated other faiths to sit beside Jesus and served His purpose and mission.

Whatever spirits that reign more powerfully, would had greater impact on the soul of man. That powerful spirit or spirits would manifest itself. The soul's emotions are manifested in the human spirit of man. When our souls are in dilemma and agonies, nightmares, fright, depressions, etc would torment us. Therefore in this condition a person may struggle to solve their problems through exercise, seeking pleasures in worldly things, meditation to bounce their human spirit, taking sedative pills and other anti-depressant drugs etc in order to pacify the screaming souls, yet they failed.

This human spirit had to be sustain and strengthen by a more powerful spirit. The souls demand the Spirit of God, not any inferior spirit, worldly spirit or sadly even evil spirits.

When the souls had found what it wanted, they would leap with great joy and hope comes alive once more. That joy was a mystery to the 'children of this world'.

The human spirit needed to submit to God's Spirit in order to bring about great blessing to our souls.

Just like a pregnant mother, with fetus inside of her. She must be very cautious of what she is consuming and whether the food or her actions would have a negative or even harmful impact on her and the fetus. If she drinks poison, the unborn in her womb, will also be affected. When she takes nutritious and quality food, her fetus will directly or indirectly benefits from her actions.

So too is our freewill. What has freewill got to do with our souls?

Freewill is like a mother, who is given freedom to choose good or bad food for the fetus. The heart is the opening or door to the souls. Freewill is like a gatekeeper to the door of our hearts. He must be smart enough not to let aliens enter through the doors. Sinful spirits, that derive from the Devil are aliens to our bodies. When mankind allows them freedom to enter and roam the 'house', or the soul, they plant weeds and thorns that would later suffocate and kill the plants, that sprout from the Seed of Life.

Denying oneself means, punishing the part that is responsible for breaking our loving relationship with God. Jesus said that, if your 'eyes' caused you to sin, dig it out! If your 'hands' caused you to sin, chopped it off. What did Jesus mean by that? If we are to take these words literally than, we would have plenty, if not all mankind, without eyes and hands. What good would that be?

These words of Jesus were indeed very serious and needed to be reflected from the spiritual point of view and take it from there. It concerns our sin and our tendency to fall into sin. If, through struggle, we can't get rid of our stubborn ways of life, then it is better to let the part of our sinful flesh to be torn away and be thrown into hell, then to have the whole body destroyed. What it meant was that, through the power of deliverance, God would spiritually removes the sinful flesh that stick and glue itself tightly from our pure human flesh, together with its human spirit.

Fasting and abstinence, as prayer would have positive impact on our souls. It would strengthen our desire against indulging and pampering our sinful flesh. The two natures of the flesh would have to suffer together, but the pure human nature triumph, when fasting brings about purification of the sinful flesh. Like a lost brother, coming home safe. Fasting as prayer means that we fasted with a desire for God and His Goodness. This form of fasting does not seek praise from others but its desires were for the sake of fulfilling the will of God. It is like a secret pact we make with God. Fasting can be in the form of food, entertainment, pleasure and other form of deprivation that we used to indulge and enjoy.

What is the meaning of cross, that Jesus asked us to carry?

Jesus did not say, 'Carry My Cross!', but He said, 'Carry your cross!'.

The Cross that Jesus had to carry was that of the whole world. Jesus as Son of Man, stood in for all fallen humankind. Taking all our deserved crosses unto Himself. Who can carry His Cross? No one, but God was with Him. This cross I was talking about was not a physical plank of cross wood, but rather the spiritual one. He came with the mission of reversing and make good what our first parents and their descendents, including us had spoiled and destroy. That is redemption and salvation, of which He was the victim for the atonement.

Jesus just asked us to carry our own crosses. What is this 'cross' all about?

We are all responsible for our own sins. The sins that we welcome into our lives. It would not be a sin, if we are ignorant of it as sin. But blindly refusing to be enlightened, by itself is a sin. Sin is darkness that blocks our souls from the light of Christ. Like a plant, that grows under continuous deprivation from the sun, would soon die off.

The struggle to get to the 'light' is a cross for all who truly seek God. This struggle needs time to be fruitful. Living with the knowledge that Jesus is the 'Light of the world', yet we are living in agony and dilemma, searching for the 'Light' and 'Spring of Living Water'.

Crosses can also be in forms that would later strengthen and nourish our spiritual lives. Accepting punishment for the wrong that we had done is indeed pleasing to the 'father who love and wanted to chastise his son'.

Instead of taking the pleasure earthly life could offer, Christ Jesus took the bitterness of life and called it 'His Hour of Glory', of which He came into this world for. He was looking eagerly forward to drink that bitter cup of poison, inflicted by the 'serpent's venom'. That cup was supposed to be ours, but He took upon Himself.

Let not the agony and sorrow of earthly life scourge and harm our souls, but let these bring about the glorification instead. Praise the Lord. Amen.