Thursday after the First Sunday after the Epiphany of our Lord
Posted on January 11, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 16:24-27 (NKJV)
16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
Devotion
The Lord not only reveals who He is and what He has come to do, but He also reveals the cost of following Him. This cost is not a cost to obtain salvation, but it is the inevitable outcome of trusting Christ for salvation.
The cost of the soul cannot be counted. The soul goes on even after this life. Life is temporary, but the soul is not. It cost our Lord His precious blood to redeem us from sin. For us, this salvation is given freely, yet we are then called to take up that cross. It is easy to slip back into stubbornness and unbelief when the road grows narrow. The Lord Jesus knows that our pride will lead to a fall.
Depending on ourselves leads us to try to find our life in our own opinions or feelings, while losing our soul in the process. But faith and trust in Christ teaches us to forsake all things for Christ, to repent by the assistance of God the Holy Ghost. As the Catechism teaches in the article on Baptism, “…the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully to receive the prayers of Thy people who call upon Thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
