No one really wants to follow Christ do they? I mean think about it. A life of total self-abandonment. Forsaking all for Christ and the Kingdom of God. Caring more about others than yourself. Literally giving all you earn to the poor and trusting in God to meet all your needs. Boldly sharing the gospel with everyone you meet, even if it costs you your life.
Mark 8:34-38, Matthew 16:24-27, Luke 9:23
“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
During the time of Christ, the cross was the symbol of a tortuous death, not the view of the cross we have today, this cherished symbol of atonement. Christ always talked about the cost of following him. I don’t take the verse as being literal, meaning to take up the cross and physically die, although if you truly follow Christ that may be the ultimate price you pay. I believe Christ is talking about dying to self in order to truly live.
One of my all time favorite scriptures gives the perfect example of what Christ is talking about.
John 12:24 “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds”.
And that is the ultimate purpose isn’t it, to produce seeds.
Dying to ones self, that totally goes against everything we are as humans, especially in our super size me society. That makes the idea of self-denial all the harder. But the cost of following Christ is so worth it, so rewarding, not only in this life, but the one to follow. From what I witnessed when my son passed away, there is no doubt in my mind that there is an afterlife. That’s for another story.
Please don’t get me wrong, when I write these things, I’m writing to myself as well. Just things on my heart that I like to share.
And that is the ultimate purpose isn’t it, to produce seeds.
Dying to ones self, that totally goes against everything we are as humans, especially in our super size me society. That makes the idea of self-denial all the harder. But the cost of following Christ is so worth it, so rewarding, not only in this life, but the one to follow. From what I witnessed when my son passed away, there is no doubt in my mind that there is an afterlife. That’s for another story.
Please don’t get me wrong, when I write these things, I’m writing to myself as well. Just things on my heart that I like to share.
Blessings to you all,
Tim
