Cost of Discipleship (Part 1)

Mar 19, 2025

Undead zombie secret to Christian living

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And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 9:23-24 (ESV)
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I’m not gonna lie, this is a hard verse.

Jesus is telling anyone who would aspire to be a follower of Him to kill their old self — their old flesh, their old desires, maybe even their old dreams — and take up an instrument of death and follow Him.

i.e., become a dead man walking.

Whenever I think about the walking dead, I think about zombies. You know, the monsters that slowly decay as they travel around in an endless hunt for “brains … BRAINS!”

So, is God calling us to become zombies for Christ?

I don’t think so.

God doesn’t want us to be a mindless horde relying solely on faith without any shred of evidence. He’d rather we use the gifts given to us, including our minds, to glorify Him.

There’s a lot of freedom to living like a dead man walking.

Whatever scorn and ridicule the world throws at them, it doesn’t matter because that old life is dead. And that new life? It’s completely sold out for the cause of Christ.

I struggle with this.

There are many days when my old self is still a bit undead. When I listen to my flesh instead of the Spirit. Yet I press on toward Christ, asking forgiveness as often as I can, and continue building my relationship with God.

It’s all part of the continuing work of salvation God is doing within me.

All right, more on this verse tomorrow.

— Ricky Ketchum

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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