As a teen-age hemophiliac, Steve Sawyer contracted the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion. A few years later, while in college, Steve placed his trust in Christ.
“I know I’ve been given heaven. So what am I going to do about it?” he once said.
This is what he did: He dropped out of college and began traveling worldwide, speaking to more than 100,000 students about Jesus Christ. Some 10,000 accepted Christ as their Savior.
Steve died in 1999 at the age of 24. His short lifetime is an example to us of what it means to “take up our cross and follow Christ.”
As a Christian, you, too, have been given heaven. But the one-time act of salvation does not mean that you go back to living for yourself. You are not your own anymore. You belong to Christ, and He expects complete devotion.
The phrase “follow me” is used throughout the Gospels in the New Testament. In Luke 9:23,24, Jesus said to His disciples: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”
To be true followers of Christ, we must die to our own desires each day and follow the path that He lays out for us. The amazing, heavenly logic of God’s plan is that when we lose our life in this way, we will actually be saving it.
Dear friend, perhaps you are not facing a life-or-death situation like Steve Sawyer was, but we can all learn from his example. Don’t wait for tomorrow to begin living your life completely sold-out to God, dead to yourself. As Jesus said, “Whoever loses his life for Me will save it.”
“I wait for Your salvation, O Lord, and I follow Your commands.” Psalm 119:166
By Vonette Bright, My Heart in His Hands—Winter
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