Luke 9:23-27, And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.
Some wonder about the necessity or viability of real forgiveness. Peter was actually invited to follow Jesus even after his predicted “denial.” Peter would hear this invitation, no less than, three times before Jesus would ascend into heaven. Once in Matthew 4:19, again in this passage and also in John 21:19. An interesting point about the last time was that it was preceded by the prediction of what would happen to Peter when he committed to Jesus. Jesus led with the fact that Peter would lose his life, and then invited Peter to follow Him.
All followers start out the same, we begin as spiritual infants. We take modest and maybe even uncertain steps, but we try to walk. We often fall, or find ourselves leaning on the external supports of other faithful brethren. We do get stronger over time like that spiritual toddler we really are. Then we learn to bear our cross. We not only walk under the weight of our souls, but we add the balance of a Cross to our load. While it is light, it comes with a tremendous journey. We are traveling down a path of spiritual growth only attained with the exercise of one faithful step after another. Our final level of following is the result of reaching our spiritual destination. We learn that our real goal is to learn how to sacrifice ourselves for something more valuable and greater than our own self-preservation. It’s not that we aren’t rewarded; it’s that we can’t accept the glory of Christ with hands filled with the sinful items we have collected as we followed the wrong path.
When Jesus invites us to follow Him, He teaches us two key concepts – to die to self, and to take up our cross daily. In order to carry the weight of the cross, we need to be free of the weight of all we have carried thus far. Our sins have weighed us down to the point we can barely move. Our guilt is eroding our souls. We need the freedom which can only come from the freedom of the Cross we have voluntarily chosen to bear. Usually we think of self-denial in terms of fasting or denying ourselves some luxurious extra. What we truly sacrifice is the greatest thing of all – our ability to control and direct our own path using our own authority. I have to give up rulership of my life to the Christ!
It is sobering to realize that what I thought was my control was really someone else controlling my thoughts and goals. You see we are never “masters” of ourselves; there are actually only two masters. We are delusional if we believe we are in control, when in fact we are spiritually dead. (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12) In fact the deceiver wants us to think we are “free” when we are actually lifeless. The spiritual paradox is that while we aren’t in control, we receive full credit for “choosing” who is and accept the consequences of that choice. I am absolutely responsible for my actions when I am the one who chooses to follow the wrong path. (Matthew 7:13)
At some point we have to accept that surrendering our compass to Jesus will keep us from ending up at the most destructive destination for my own soul. In fact, giving Jesus the authority of my life is what keeps me from being slaughtered by Satan on the battlefield. Being “self-made” or “your-own-boss” is never a recipe for success. We tend to be great at chaos, destruction and death. What we need is to be focused on and directed by the author of life.
Taking up our cross daily is the act of continually committing to Christ. It is a daily re-commitment to my Lord, not some momentary and fleeting act of an emotionally temporary sentiment. It is not the act of once starting out and then stalling out, but the act of waking up tomorrow and continuing the journey.
It is every bit an everyday effort. The inspired author gave us the formula for spiritual success. We must live life one sacrificial and surrendered day at a time. Carrying my cross daily, step after step down the narrow path…
May God bless us all as we make this graceful, merciful, and sacrificial journey!