Deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow me

Luke 9:23-25 (NIV) "Then he said to them all, "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. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"" One time I heard a minister preach about this passage and he brought to our minds the story of an American youth that made a radical statement about what he believed in. He said, "Am no fool to lose what I can't keep to gain what I can't lose." This statement made whole sense to me about what Jesus meant when He said that whoever wants to save his life will eventually lose it. In this world many people are fighting to save their own life which will eventually decay. Gaining a lot of wealth is no problem but if you do it outside Christ then your wealth means nothing. You will someday leave all of it here to go and face a life of eternity. But the question is, which eternity are you headed for, eternal paradise or eternal fire? To be honest, Michael Jackson owned a lot of wealth but he eventually died and left it all. Wealth couldn't keep him forever in this earth even if he had the best doctors. It's sad to say that Michael Jackson is not n heaven because he didn't accept Jesus. Friends do we take the message of the cross seriously? Trust me when we do our life will never be the same. Blessed day