No meat on that jawbone

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Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. (Colossians 3:5, NIV)

David Robinson says, “The reason God was able to use the jawbone of an ass to give Samson victory over the Philistines was that it was completely dead, and there was no flesh left on it (see Judges 5:15). 

Consider that if you want to be used by God, 'the flesh” must go and you must die. That’s not a popular message; we’d rather focus on the benefits and the blessings of serving the Lord. But there’s a price to be paid. 

Jesus didn’t tell us to make converts; He told us to make disciples. 
He made it hard to join, easy to leave. He wanted only those who were committed unto death. He said, “Any of you who does not give up everything cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33, NIV). What a price tag! Are you truly His disciple?

The Message paraphrases Paul in these words: “Everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m His bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose” (Philippians 1:20, TM).



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