Read Deuteronomy 23:1-8

1 John 1:5-7

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

The message of Jesus is clear. Repent! Sin no more! Carry your cross! Lose the whole world to gain your soul! These are not the words of a great compromiser. These are the words of the Lord. These are the words of the Messiah King. These are the words of Christ Jesus. In Jesus we are forgiven, accepted, loved and called beloved children. However, the gifts of Jesus follow submission to Jesus.  He declares to be the only way, truth and life and he is. Therefore, to follow him and become swept up alongside him in righteousness and glory we must submit to his words and his truth. This truth demands change. It demands the sacrifice of the self in alignment with submission to the Son. As the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see the Lordship of Jesus we are also made aware of the depravity of our sinful nature without him. We are dead without him. We need a savior and he has a name.  As we see Jesus as Lord and God we begin to see nothing else. He becomes everything, we become nothing. He becomes life, we become death. “Father, save me from myself!” He becomes our prize and possession. It is in this new vision that we can boldly proclaim to the world that we will gladly choose to lose all things to know Christ Jesus. In the light of Jesus the issue is not what we want, it is always and forever what he says and what he commands. We cannot seek to please the flesh while seeking to please the Son. These are opposing sides. These are enemies. Choose a side! Is your fleeting and temporary comfort in this world more valuable to you than eternity? Do you believe in eternity? If not, why not? Have you sought out the words of Jesus? Do you know what is being offered to you in his life, death and resurrection? If so, why corrupt the promises of Jesus with a false gospel of cheap grace and self-worship. To enter into the grace of Jesus we must repent. We must change.  In order to change we must encounter the risen Lord and bow our knees to his Lordship over our lives. He is good, but he is also the King. We are forgiven but we have to change. If we have seen him, we love him and we seek to become like him.