[Steve Myers] We claim to be Christian. That means we have to allow Christ to live His life in us and through us. Well, how can we be sure that we're doing just that?

Well, Christ said, there's a three part method that we can be assured if we follow this, that Christ is living His life in us. He mentions this in Luke 9:23. It's a familiar passage, you'll recognize it. Here Christ says, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, whoever loses his life, for My sake, will save it."

So in a sense, there's a three part process. He says, "Follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross daily." And I think that's an important aspect. We recognize that very fact.

First of all, I've got to go against my own human nature. I recognize that I don't naturally think like Christ. I've got to allow God's spirit within me to direct and guide me, to follow Him, and then ultimately, to take up that cross. And Christ literally had to do that just before the crucifixion. But figuratively, we have to take up whatever challenges we face. And we noticed that He said, "Daily, daily," and so that means that's a decision we make every single day. That's a mindset that we have. We've got to have that perspective in our thinking. And so even in a discouraging day, we've got to make the choice to have His thoughts, even in a day that we may find suffering. Plenty of those days are around, that's when we've got to meet that suffering with faith and the mind of Christ. And even if that day comes, and it's a day of anger, it's a day of frustration, well, we can't allow our human nature to take us away. Now's the time for His attitude. Now's the time for His perspective. Now's the time to deny self and make that choice today to follow Him. And so when we do that, we're choosing, we're making the ultimate choice to be a Christian, to allow Christ to live His life in us.

So let's follow that three point plan. Let's be sure, every single day, we choose to deny ourself, we choose to take up whatever the challenge may be every single day, and ultimately put our lives in His hand and follow Him.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.