Daily Word Of God
Mark 8:34-38
Jesus called the people and his disciples to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
‘What gain, then, is it for anyone to win the whole world and forfeit his life? And indeed what can anyone offer in exchange for his life? For if anyone in this sinful and adulterous generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- Today, Jesus re-affirms what it means to be His disciple: renouncing oneself and enduring adversity and suffering for the sake of our faith in the Good News of Salvation. We flinch from these because they go against our human nature.
- To be a disciple of Jesus, we sometimes have to face rejection and ridicule, including our own family, relatives and friends. In such trials of our faith, do we hold on firmly, compromise or shy away in timidity?
- What are the main obstacles in our lives that are preventing us from living our faith as fully as God wills of us?