Matthew 16:24-28 The Whole World
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: May 1, 2019 Matthew 16:24-28
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
(Understanding the Text) Jesus is still trying to get the disciples’ minds out of dreaming of the world’s glory and into focusing on the glory of the kingdom of heaven. He has been telling them that He will die. They refuse to accept that. Now, He tells them that they are going to suffer also. In fact, being willing to suffer is a requirement for being His disciple. However, He also promises that there will be a greater reward in the end. He tells them that He is working toward a goal which includes Him appearing with His angels in the glory of His Father.
The SDA commentary says that not only was Jesus addressing His 12 disciples but that Mark says that there were other people in the group that Jesus was speaking to. “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). Thus, this call was not alone to the disciples, but also to others listening. Luke adds that this taking up the cross is a daily event. “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Since no one carried a real crossbar of a cross every day, this points to a metaphorical meaning. Jesus is saying that we must be willing to face death for Him, but He is also saying that we must be willing to face life for Him. In some ways, we are all walking toward death. It is a long painfully drawn out process, but the moment we begin to live, we are also beginning to die. Thus, our walk through life is really a march toward death. Jesus says that we need to take up our cross and walk toward death differently from our fellow travelers. Our walk needs to be following Jesus. If we let Him lead us down life’s path to death, we will travel through death into life. Every other road leads to extinction. Only the path where Jesus leads us ends in transformation. Either way, the old self is gone, but with transformation we will remain.
(Revelation of God) Jesus claims that the angels are His. He does not say that they are the Father’s angels. The angels belong to Jesus in an intimate way. He is the Lord of Hosts. However, He claims that the power, the character, the glory are the Father’s.
(Understanding the Text) Then Jesus tells them that some of them are going to see Him coming in His kingdom. I know that this refers to the transfiguration, but why did Jesus state it in this way? What does coming in His kingdom mean? Does it mean appearing as He will when He is Lord of this earth? Is it some kind of preliminary presentation ceremony where Jesus accepts the rulership of earth? Or am I way off base and it refers to the resurrection? What was the transfiguration about anyway? According to both Guzik’s commentary and the SDA commentary, it is the transfiguration that fulfills this promise.
Taking up the cross and denying ourselves is both literal and figurative. We may be asked to literally die for Jesus. Most of the disciples did this. On the other hand, there is the figurative meaning of denying ourselves. Guzik says “a. Let him deny himself: Human nature wants to indulge self, not deny self. Death to self is always terrible, and if we expect it to be a pleasant experience, we will often be discouraged. b. And take up his cross: Death to self is the radical command of the Christian life. To take up your cross meant one thing: you were going to a certain death, and your only hope was in resurrection power.” The idea that really impressed me in this is that the only way to stop clinging to self and deny ourselves is to trust that Jesus will catch us. It reminds me of learning to float on your back in the water. If you trust the person who is holding or supporting you in the water to keep you from drowning, you will actually relax enough to lay flat on your back in the water and float, but if you don’t trust that person, you cling to them to keep them from letting you go and drowning. Sometimes we cling to self like a life vest rather than relaxing into Jesus’ arms and floating on the water. Jesus wants to show us so much more than we know, but in our fears we cling to this world so hard that we cannot relax enough to let Him show us the kingdom of heaven. Jesus came to Jeremiah when he was locked up in a cell and promised him this. “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it—the LORD is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (Jeremiah 33:2-3). I’m not sure that I would apply this promise as generally as most people seem to do, but the point is that God is willing to communicate with us if we are willing to communicate with Him, but first we have to trust Him and look to Him rather than ourselves.
(Application) My application for myself is that the treasures of this world and the fun and the conveniences and the distractions and the entertainment are not worth my soul. There are much greater rewards and living and love waiting for me at the end of this journey. There is a much greater love available to me right now if I will just stop being distracted and lazy and short-sighted. I just need to take the steps daily to form the connections with God, and He will be connected with me, but I have to choose to pray and read His word and serve Him. He has shown me that He is involved in my life, but I need to show Him that I want to be involved with Him. He won’t force me to communicate with Him. I have to make that choice again and again. Then, He will give me the treasure of His presence in ways that I can’t comprehend now and have only had glimpses of in the past.
(Prayer) Please reveal Yourself to me and let me understand Your love and grace. Help me to remember that You are near even when I am feeling low or tired. Give me faith that You will always keep Your promise to communicate with me and to answer when I call.