Follow Me
Follow Me
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24
Our faith is not contingent or conditional and neither should our obedience be. Our cross is not some burden that must be carried through our lives. No it is much more than that. Much much more.
When Jesus said “follow me”, it wasn’t a request based on requirements or suggestions filled with special circumstances. It was merely a command.
If we are to live a life with Jesus Christ at the center of it, there are rules to follow. And the first is to deny ourselves of what we want for the things that only Christ can offer. The second is that we must always carry our cross. The cross is a symbol of death and this means that our wants and desires must die as we turn our lives over to Him.
This is the only true way to follow Christ.
Following Jesus isn’t a trend or something cool to say - it is submission and obedience and a change of life. It’s not a lifestyle, it’s becoming a new creature and the old one dying.
Too many times I’ve heard people say that they would die for their Christianity, uncertain of their commitment. Things are easy when they are going easy. And you can certainly see the rattling of faith when things get harder.
Picking up our cross is dying to ourselves and only when we die to ourselves can we absolutely, without drawback, follow Christ.
It is only when ourselves do not get in the way are we truly a disciple of Jesus. It is absolute submission. Complete obedience. No threats. No fleecing. No holdbacks. Giving up everything. That means everything to us - for the sake of following Him.
Jesus answered that call, literally. He carried His cross, falsely accused and willing to die. He died so that we could live. In its purest literal and figurative sense, He died so that we could live. He was sent. He was commanded. And He followed-through with the ultimate sacrifice.
So many disregard this. Their faith wavering like a flag on a windy day. We all want to believe that we would die for a faith we confess to have. So would we?
I struggle with this. Is my faith strong enough? Do I believe without scrutiny? It is a reality. I know this all too well. We are so afraid to actually give up what it means in order to follow Jesus. We can say it, but do we mean it? Many times, it’s just posturing. It sounds good and figuratively, it looks good when we say it.
Nobody wants, to literally, die. But we must truly be willing to. The cross is a symbol of death in a most horrible sense. A reality we must consider for our faith. Sound extreme? Dying to ourselves is dying to sin. And in order to truly follow Christ, we must.
Denying ourselves, picking up our cross and following Jesus is a sacrifice that involves absolute obedience, not just some cool verse to repeat.
Can you truly say you would die for Jesus Christ?
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Matthew 16:25-26