Higher and Higher

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, You call us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow You. Lift our hearts above the noise that keeps us restless and divided. As we consider the climb toward Your glory, show us what we must leave behind: every false comfort, every anxious attachment, every burden that keeps us from hearing You clearly. Amen.

Scripture Reading

Matthew 16:24–26 — “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?’”

Reflection

Returning to Jesus’s call to give up our own way and take up our cross, the devotional walks with Peter, James, and John up the physical slopes of Mount Tabor as a picture of the spiritual climb of discipleship. Every step further up the mountain puts more distance between the disciples and the noise, comparison, and worry of the life left behind. The silence they find isn’t empty — it is full of serenity and meaning, a quiet that steadily replaces anxiety with trust. The higher the climb, the less burdened the traveler becomes, until trust itself becomes not something practiced, but a settled way of being — with Christ waiting, in glory, at the summit.

Group Discussion Questions

Gather with your group and discuss:

1. The devotional describes climbing higher as leaving noise behind until “trust becomes a state of being.” What is the “noise” in your life right now that makes it hard to hear God clearly?
2. Looking back down the mountain, the climbers realize what they gained by leaving things behind: unbreakable trust, uninterrupted peace, true completeness. Has there been a season where letting go of something actually gave you more peace than holding onto it did?
3. Today’s devotional returns to the same question from Day Two — what are you willing to give up to gain your soul? Has anything shifted in how you’d answer that question since we first asked it?

Personal Reflection Questions

Take some quiet time with these:

1. Picture yourself climbing the mountain, step by step, leaving behind one specific worry or attachment at each stage. Sit with that image for a few quiet minutes — what’s the first thing you set down?
2. Where in your life might you need to “climb higher” — spend intentional time away from noise and distraction — in order to hear God more clearly this week?

Closing Prayer

God of peace, thank You for meeting us in the quiet places where trust can grow. Help us set down what is false and carry what is holy. When the climb feels steep, lead us by Your presence; when silence feels unfamiliar, fill it with prayer. Draw us higher in faith, with Christ leading us toward the glory revealed at the summit. Amen.