I have not written in a couple of weeks because I’ve had activities on Saturdays, which is the only time I have to write. I also went to New York on a business trip that I combined with a mini vacation. It was a lot of fun and a wonderful experience. The highlight of the trip was the visit to the 9/11 Memorial. The North and South pools are now open and they have the names of all the people that died that day all around the pools. Their names are forever engraved in that place so we can all remember what happened to our country that day.
Going to a big city like NY is great but there is nothing like coming back home where you can feel relaxed, be with the people you love, and get back into your routine. So today, as I get back into my Saturday morning routine to read and meditate, I would like to share with you one of the devotionals from my book, Devotions for Working Women. This devotional is about following Jesus and the example He gives us through the Bible to live our lives as Christians. With all the pressures of work and daily life, it is a challenge to follow Christ and it’s even more challenging to try to imitate Him on everything He did while He was on earth. But if every person knew Jesus and would follow His example, the highlight of my visit to New York would have been other than the 9/11 Memorial.
Listen to God’s Beloved Son
# 237
Mark 8:34 (NLT)
Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. “If any of you wants to be my follower,” he told them, “you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.”
When Jesus was here on earth, He continually gave instructions to His disciples on how to conduct their lives as Christians. He also taught them how to do the things He was doing here such as healing people, casting out devils, and teaching the Gospel. Every person who makes a decision to follow Christ becomes His disciple. As one, we must follow His instructions including putting aside our selfish ambition, shoulder our cross, and follow Him. We have to carry our cross while we are here. The cross means to endure anything and everything up to losing our earthly life for the sake of the Gospel. Most of us will not have to experience that extreme, but our cross is also to put aside our fleshly desires on a daily basis. Our cross is choosing to be godly versus worldly.
God, the Father, is pleased when we listen to what Jesus says. During the transfiguration of Jesus (when He appeared with Moses and Elijah), a cloud came over them and a voice came from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him” (Mark 9:7 NLT). God asked the disciples to listen to the teachings and the words of Jesus. We are His disciples as well, so this is for us. We must listen to what Jesus tells us through His Word. It is all recorded in the Bible for us.
Everything you need to succeed in your professional life, as well as your family life, is in the Bible. Read it, study it, and meditate on the words of Jesus. If you are going through hardship right now, believe that God will help you. If everything is going well, then don’t forget to be thankful to the Lord, the One who helped you succeed.