Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” Luke 9:23-25

Prosperity: the condition of being successful or thriving; characterized by financial success or good fortune.         

From the farmer, to the factory worker, to the white collar worker, to the rich man, prosperity would look different to each one, but all have a desire to be prosperous, according to their own lot in life.

To a farmer, prosperity would be harvesting bumper crops in season and getting a good price for his labors. The factory worker sees prosperity as having a job with good wages and benefits, whereby he can provide a comfortable way of life for his family. The white collar worker views prosperity as having a job they like, making good money, and the prospect of moving up the corporate ladder. The rich man: well, mostly they see prosperity as just getting richer.

Work is an honorable thing, and there’s everything right about working to prosper your state of affairs. But, if prosperity becomes your main goal in life, then you are headed in the wrong direction. For regardless of how much you may gain in this life; whether it be money, possessions, power or fame, it’s short-lived. You may be in the prime of life, and feel like you could live forever, but you won’t; in a very short time, it will come to an end and you’ll be gone, and leave it all behind.

But following Jesus Christ changes all of that. To follow Him as He says in the Scripture, will lead you to a prosperity that is worth more than all the wealth and fame of this world. Those who are joined to Christ Jesus become joint-heirs to an inheritance that is out of this world. The God and Father of Jesus has made Him the heir to everything there is in the worlds to come; Jesus gets everything, and those who belong to Him get everything He gets.   

Jesus freely invites all to follow Him and partake of His inheritance. But Jesus also makes it clear that there is only one way to follow Him—His way! His way leads to His inheritance, but more importantly, His way leads to His home and His Father. The greatest inheritance you could ever receive will be to be at home with the Father and Jesus Christ.

Jesus says if you desire to follow Him, you must deny yourself. He isn’t talking about giving up your favorite food or drink, or anything else. Jesus is talking about saying “no” to your fleshly desires that are contrary to the will of God, and which you so easily follow after.

Regardless of your age when you’re born again, you have ingrained in your flesh, that is, in yourself, the ways of the old man. Now Christ has broken the hold they have on you, but they’re still there, wanting to do just opposite of what the Spirit wants to do. Jesus says, to follow Him, you must say “NO!” to yourself.

Certainly, this is the cross Christ gladly asks you to bear. It means daily putting to death those thoughts, words and deeds that are not of God. This daily “crucifixion” of yourself immediately addresses sins against the commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The old man wants to withhold forgiveness, hold grudges, accuse and gossip; the old man wants “ME” to come first—ALWAYS! The Holy Spirit will ALWAYS lead you to love and put OTHERS first; to do unto others as you would have them do unto you; to put others’ interest and welfare before yours; to seek to help and encourage others; to always be ready to ask for and give forgiveness.

When you give up (crucify) the old you for Christ’s sake, you are on the only path to everlasting prosperity.

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglpbal.net