You become what you focus on and what you focus on only gets bigger.

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24; Mk. 8:34; Lk. 9:23).

Notice the word “if”. Check yourself, do you want to experience victory or defeat while walking this journey called life? The context of the above saying is Peter wanting defeat – living His own agenda, which was Jesus to be King in Jerusalem in his lifetime.

However, Jesus was sent to do something far bigger that time around: Bring all humanity into a relationship with the Father. The cross was simply the process to achieve that goal, not the end result.

Peter had to die to his way of thinking, which is where the cross comes into play, death. And, science proves that the thought we focus on grows and those we don’t die. So, if we want the old way of living to die, we must exchange it with the character trait/truth/thought the Spirit is trying to implement into our life.

Outside a miracle, the only determinate to how long that process will take is our daily choices for Luke adds the word daily. If we want something new to grow, we must make a daily choice to focus and follow/act on the new thought!

This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Follow Me.” Make the choice to focus on the end goal He has for us; and then, make daily choices toward it. As we do, the old thoughts/way of thinking will die off and new life will take place.

If we don’t, we’ll be stuck in the sin-confession cycle (cross focused) rather than experiencing a transformed life (life focused). Yes, we might fail. But if we only focus on the process (cross), we will never experience what Jesus came to bring (life).

Stay focused on the thoughts/truth the Spirit is putting into your life. Let those thoughts sink deeper into your brain and grow to the sky and then life change will occur (Rom. 12:2).

Oh what a Jesus story you will have to tell when people notice this change!