“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24 NASB
First, because we read the Bible after the fact, did you catch where Jesus says “take up his cross” before He was even arrested. I’m sure during Roman times, this would not have been missed as this was a regular occurrence. For me though, I read this in the context of knowing Jesus had to carry His cross, missing this took place before that happened! (Why it is so important to keep reading the Word as the Holy Spirit continues to pull back the curtain so we can experience more depth!).
Have you ever had surgery? Before you go in, you sign all of these forms, including the one that basically says you will not hold the hospital liable if they mess up your surgery and you die. Everyone signs it, because what option do you have? There isn’t a negotiation period where you can bring your lawyers and their lawyers and work out a better deal. You sign it because you need the surgery.
As Christians, we should really do a better job at reading the “requirements” for following Jesus. It is not to say that we should have people sign something, but in today’s day and age of “me me me”, everyone should understand their is a cost to following Jesus. From a world perspective, we falsely believe that following Jesus protects us from the world. Wrong! He promises it protects our soul, but we live in a fallen world and we have to take up our cross. We will suffer. We will experience tragedy. We will shed tears. That is the world we live in.
There was no attempt by Jesus, nor His Apostles, hid the truth. He told us right up front what it meant to follow Him. He lived the consequences, as did all of the authors in the New Testament. There is a happy ending, but it is an eternal one, not a temporal one. Why is this important? Sometimes I think we try to “oversell” Christianity. We focus on the good, and there is plenty of that Joy, but not what the world considers joy.
We are meant to carry our cross, not in private, but in full view of the world. The world will know Him, because they see us. We connect with people, not because of our temporary riches and happiness, but we connect with people when we share that we are loved by Him and even as we walk through grief, pain, and tragedy, we STILL follow Him.
The world is full of angry, stressed, anxious, sad, and frustrated people. We will not change the world, but we can introduce these people to the Kingdom that Jesus brought with Him.
This Sunday we will introduce our new direction. We will all be part of a discipleship program! We will Connect, Grow, and Serve, to build each other up and to show the world why this is where they need to be to find the Peace they are all struggling to find!