And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:23

Why did God provide His plan of redemption for us? No matter how “good” we live, no matter how moral we may be, we can not save ourselves and so God saves us from ourselves.

As we gave some thought to repentance yesterday, let’s consider what the new life in Christ looks like on a daily basis.

In his letter to Titus, Paul wrote, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14).

God saves us and the fruit of His “salvation for all people” is for us to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” (repentance) and to “live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.”

How? In the passage from Luke above, Jesus provides the key. We are to follow Him daily. Each day when we wake up, we are to make a conscious decision to follow Christ, not only in our hearts but in what we do and say.