City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:23-27

Reflection

Verse 23 seems out of place in Western Christianity today, particularly the American evangelical version of Christianity. We place so much emphasis on having prayed the Sinners Prayer or having once walked the isle, that the idea of any continuing obligation to Jesus seems almost heretical. 

Yet, here Jesus is saying that being His disciple is a decision one must make again every day. Each day Jesus is calling us to follow His lead, which requires us to make two decisions: deny ourselves and follow Jesus. The decision to follow Jesus and deny oneself are in fact two sides of the same coin. To follow we must first deny; there is no following without first denying.

Perhaps recognizing the difficulty of daily self denial, Jesus uses the symbol of the cross. The cross would have been a powerful symbol for Jesus’ followers even before His own crucifixion. Those sentenced by the Romans to death were required to carry to the place of their execution the cross-beam that would be affixed to the wooden stake on which they would be crucified. 

“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.“

Romans 6:11

Jesus’ instruction that we take up our cross daily is a reminder that we have been crucified with Christ and have died to our former self-centered life. Therefore, because we are dead to our old self, we are now fully alive to follow Jesus (See Romans 6:11; Galatians 2:20). Jesus bids us to carry our cross daily to remind us we need not obey the demands of a dead man.

Application

“We made a decision once, so we take up our cross daily to be His disciple forever.”

Still the decision to deny ourselves and follow must be made daily. Each day we are enticed to stray from following Jesus. Sometimes the enticement is sin; other times it is the subtle lure of a path which seeks to exalt us rather than Jesus. But whichever it may be, we must decline its offer to continue to follow Jesus.

We died to sin and self when we first decided to follow Jesus, but we must be reminded daily of that death so we can continue to follow Jesus. We made a decision once, so we take up our cross daily to be His disciple forever. 

Prayer

Lord, thank You for grace which enables us to choose to follow You daily. Amen.