You know that feeling when you're interested in someone and you'll do almost anything to get their attention, or to get to know them better, or to get them to like you back? That's the kind of passionate pursuit Jesus invites us to.
Jesus said "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." <Luke 9:23>
"Come after me..."
He will settle for nothing less than to be the great love and pursuit of your life. That's what he wants.
He doesn't need our time, He doesn't need our money, He doesn't need our worship. He doesn't need anything from us. But He wants us. All these things (our time, our money, our worship) are just outer signs that point to an inner reality that we love Jesus more than anything else. <Not a fan. - Kyle Idleman>
"Deny yourself..."
You can't "come after" Jesus without denying yourself. A total surrender - that's what He's asking for.
We live in a culture where it's about me, me me. We're selfish, self-serving, self-centered, self-loving, self-indulgent, self-seeking, self-absorbed, self-admiring.
In Matthew 19, a rich young man asks Jesus what he has to do to get eternal life. Jesus tells the rich young man, "Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." <Matt 19:21>
"Many people want to make this story about money, but it's not as much about money as it is following Jesus. Jesus puts this man at a crossroads He can follow the path that leads to money, or he can follow Jesus; but he can't follow both...You won't be able to take the path of following Jesus without walking away from a different path. He wanted to follow Jesus, but when forced to choose between Jesus and his stuff, he chose his stuff. He wouldn't deny himself." <Not a fan. - Kyle Idleman>
"Take up your cross daily..."
Don't you find that after a teens camp, or a weekend retreat, or a good sermon, or a worship conference, or even just something really good that's happened in your life, you have a 'spiritual burst'? If your life is like mine, then you have spiritual highs here and there, sometimes you reach a certain point and just plateau, and sometimes you have spiritual lows. Jesus calls us to take up our cross daily -
to die daily. Why would Jesus invite us to take up our cross daily if the cross was meant for torture and death?
It's symbolic of public humiliation. Humiliation is defined as 'a painful loss of pride, dignity, and self-respect.' It's the opposite of being honoured or exalted. The root of the word is '
humble.' Humble is defined as 'not proud or arrogant; having a feeling of insignificance; to lower in importance; to make meek.' We are to make ourselves nothing, and make Him everything.
The cross also means suffering. You can't carry a cross without suffering.
"Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." <2 Tim 3:12>
"Christ says, "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work; I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out." <Mere Christianity - CS Lewis>
How can taking up your cross daily be a good thing?
When we choose to die, that's when we really find life.
The cross that represented defeat - for a follower it is an image of victory.
The cross that represented guilt - for a follower it is an image of grace.
The cross that represented condemnation - for a follower it is an image of freedom.
The cross that represented pain and suffering - for a follower it is an image of healing and hope.
The cross that represented death - for a follower it is an image of life. <Not a fan. - Kyle Idleman>
"Follow me..."
So I've been meaning to go running for a long time now. It was my new year's resolution to go for a run three times a week. So far that hasn't happened. I haven't made it a priority and I keep putting it off and making excuses (I don't have time, there's a game on, I'm in game, it's raining etc). Sometimes I find that this is what my relationship with God is like. I don't make it a priority and I keep putting it off and making excuses.
But Jesus says..
"Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. <Matt 4:19>
"Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." <Heb 3:15>
It's an immediate call to action to follow Jesus today, not tomorrow. Today.
"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." <2 Chron 16:9>
