"Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” -Mat 16:24
The words Jesus uttered in Matthew 16:24 were said immediately after He had revealed to His disciples that He would die and rise again, and also right after Jesus had rebuked Peter for trying to stop this from happening. Peter was rebuked for not being “mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Cf. 16:23) and this is the very same thing that stops disciples today from properly following Him. When we refuse to follow Him we are like Peter who was getting in the way of the gospel ie. Christ’s death and resurrection.
It is very significant that there is a cross right in the middle of denying ourselves and following Jesus. In a nutshell Jesus says, “deny self, carry the cross, and follow Me”. On one side of the cross we have ourselves, our plans, aspiration and ambitions, and on the other side of the cross we have Christ waiting for us to lay hold of Him and His plans for our life.
You see in order to hold onto Christ we must let go of ourselves. And in order to do this we must carry our cross. Yes to carry it means challenges, difficulties and sufferings, but is it not the proper response to the One who first had to carry His own cross in order to save us? Is it too much to ask to let go of ourselves and worldly ambitions and grab on to eternity in His footsteps?
Let us be challenged by these words and may it be our goal to let go and hold on today, tomorrow, and forever.
It is very significant that there is a cross right in the middle of denying ourselves and following Jesus. In a nutshell Jesus says, “deny self, carry the cross, and follow Me”. On one side of the cross we have ourselves, our plans, aspiration and ambitions, and on the other side of the cross we have Christ waiting for us to lay hold of Him and His plans for our life.
You see in order to hold onto Christ we must let go of ourselves. And in order to do this we must carry our cross. Yes to carry it means challenges, difficulties and sufferings, but is it not the proper response to the One who first had to carry His own cross in order to save us? Is it too much to ask to let go of ourselves and worldly ambitions and grab on to eternity in His footsteps?
Let us be challenged by these words and may it be our goal to let go and hold on today, tomorrow, and forever.
- READ MK 10:17-27 WHAT DID HE HAVE TO LET GO OF IN ORDER TO FOLLOW JESUS? AND WHY?
- “to step toward your destiny, you have to step away from your security.” -Craig Groeschel