"Then JESUS called the people and HIS disciples, and said, 'If you want to follow ME, deny yourself; take up your cross and follow ME. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you lose your life for MY sake, and for the sake of the gospel, you will save it.
What good is it, to gain the whole world, while destroying your soul? There is nothing more precious than your soul. I tell you, if anyone is ashamed of ME and of MY words, among this adulterous and sinful people, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of HIM, when HE comes in the glory of HIS FATHER with the holy angels.'
And HE went on to say, 'Truly I tell you, there are some here who will not die before they see the kingdom of GOD coming with power.'" - Mark 8:34-9:1
(Take up your cross. JESUS tells us that to follow HIM is to follow the same path that took HIM to the cross. To reach maturity it is necessary to renounce our life; in other words, we must risk ourselves for something noble instead of being concerned about our own future; we must find a lifestyle that will help us excel in the way of love; and we must accept that our life may be a future according to others' way of thinking [Luke 17:33; John 12:23-25].
Taking up our cross by accepting freely the sacrifices that the FATHER sends each day, we receive from that moment something even more marvelous than what was sacrificed: inner freedom and more profound happiness [Mark 10:30].
If anyone is ashamed of ME and of MY words. The believer who follows the words of CHRIST without fear of what may be asked of her is attacked without mercy by many who call themselves Christians. For we live in the midst of an adulterous people, in other words, people who without verbally denying GOD, in fact, serve other gods [Matthew 6:24; John 8:42].)
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