* Follow Me

Then he called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” –Mark 8:34

Following Jesus involves three activities—a willingness to deny themselves, a willingness to take up the cross, and a willingness to follow.

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world.” –Galatians 6:14

Following Jesus involves denying self. To deny oneself means not only to surrender immediate material gratification, but also it is a willingness to let go of selfish desires and earthly security. This attitude turns self-centeredness to God-centeredness. The first thing that we are supposed to learn when we become Christians is that we are now owned by Jesus Christ. This is what we call lordship. Even though we easily call Him Lord, is He really Lord of our entire lives?

Jesus wants us to choose to follow Him rather than to lead a life where our focus is controlling our own lives and searching for constant satisfaction of our needs. He wants us to stop trying to control our own destiny and to let Him direct us. As the Creator, Christ knows better than we do what real life is about. However, sometimes we totally misunderstand and think that we are wiser, smarter, and more intelligent than God. To be willing to put personal desires and life itself into God's hands means to understand that nothing that we can gain on our own in our earthly lives can compare to what we gain with Christ. In this, we lose the anxiety of trying so hard, of having the pressure to do it all alone.

Secondly, Jesus said that following Him means to take up one's own cross. To take up the cross was a vivid illustration of the humility and submission that Jesus was asking of His followers. Soon after this, Jesus would take up His own cross. Jesus is predicting His destiny here. When Jesus used this example of His followers taking up their crosses to follow Him, the disciples probably got the picture of Jesus on the cross. Jesus' words meant that His followers had to be prepared to obey God's command and to follow His will no matter what the consequences. The cross reminds us that it can be risky to follow Jesus. Jesus took up the cross for us, we need to take up the cross for Him in our lives.

He never asks of us what He first didn’t do for us.

Jesus introduced the idea that the Christian life is a paradox: To attempt to save your life means only to lose it. A person who "saves" his or her life in order to satisfy desires and goals apart from God ultimately "loses" life. By contrast, those who willingly "lose" their lives for the sake of Christ and the Kingdom of God actually "save" their lives. To lose one's life for Christ refers to a person refusing to renounce Christ, even if the punishment were death. What a strange paradox this is and how hard it must have been for the disciples to understand its truth the first time they heard it. Find life by losing it?

What good would it be for a person to gain the whole world, that is, to have power or financial control over the entire world system of which Satan is the head, but lose his or her soul, that is, to lose eternal life with God? Every person will die, even those most powerful or most wealthy. If they have not taken care to "save" their lives for eternity with God, then they gain nothing and lose everything.

How important would a lifetime of pleasure seem when compared to an eternity separated from God and all the blessings of life with Him? How foolish to seek worldly comfort and wealth and ignore the issue of our soul's eternal salvation.

The secular world tells us to get all we can; Jesus tells us to give all we can. This world teaches that to get life, you must grab it; Jesus tells us that to win, we must surrender. In a day of easy religion that promises to solve all our problems, Jesus speaks clearly to us: "If you are to follow me, deny yourself and take up a cross."

Lastly, to follow Christ is also a moment-by-moment decision, requiring compassion, commitment, and service. Jesus said He would suffer and die on the cross, and His followers must be willing to deny themselves and take up their own cross. Jesus set the example of self-sacrifice, calling us to live as He lived, teaching us that it is in such a life that we find our greatest rewards-not earthly rewards, but eternal rewards.

Following Jesus doesn't mean merely walking behind him, but having the same experiences of tears and sweat, taking the same road of sacrifice and service that He took. Those who would lose their lives-physical, spiritual, or both - for Christ's sake, will find them. Without a life in Him, Jesus told the disciples and tells us, there really is no life.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave himself for me.” –Galatians 2:20

Lord, following you is impossible without Your grace and mercy. Self is so much a part of my life. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. I want to be free of selfishness that keeps me from loving You and others. I want to make my life count for eternity. I want to experience deep joy in living. I want to be used to love others as You have loved me. This is a life worth living!


Tomorrow: How I worshiped in the dentist's chair