Jesus was spending time with just his inner circle of disciples praying in a private place. He asked his disciples who people thought he was. He was not surprised by their answers – John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the prophets come back to life. Then he asked them, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Luke 9:20 It seems that it was quiz time. What had his disciples learned by spending time with him? Was he making progress in teaching them?
“Peter answered, ‘The Christ of God.’ Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.” Luke 9:20-21 Why on earth not? Why wouldn’t he want everyone to know he was the Christ? There may be some insight in the next thing Jesus said to them. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Luke 9:22 In this instance, Jesus called himself the “Son of Man” and it seems that he is referring to human body he is living in. Part of God’s plan was for Jesus to become sin for us so we could take on his righteousness. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. II Corinthians 5:21 Jesus in his human flesh chose to die in our place for the sins we commit so that we could become righteous before God. God is all about timing here and the time was not right for everyone to understand what the disciples understood – that he was indeed the Christ of God. There were some other things that needed to happen first – his death and resurrection.
“Then he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.’” Luke 9:23-24 These are hard words. Denying myself is not something that comes naturally to me. What does it mean to deny myself? And what does it mean to take up my cross daily and follow him? We all have a desire to live. That is what keeps us from walking out in front of cars. It is a good thing. What does Jesus mean by, “whoever wants to save his life will lose it”? What is it Jesus wants from me?
I believe that he gave me life. Every day I wake up, it is a gift from him. While I can take care of my human body that I live in, ultimately, I cannot make my heart beat and my lungs breathe. If he gave me this life, it belongs to him and not to me. So the question for me becomes, “What does he want me to do with this life he gave me?” Not only did he give me this physical life, he gave me spiritual life and opened the door for me to be able to come before my Father in heaven. I am so grateful for this relationship. Denying myself, then, is not so hard when there is so much love waiting for me when I turn this corner.
Denying myself means taking everything I am and I desire and placing it at his feet and letting him choose what is best for me. Sometimes he will give it back to me and tell me to use it to glorify him. Other times, he will take it away because it is not good for me. And yet other times, he will hand it back to me and ask me to choose what to do with it. It is a relationship. He is my Lord and my King. Everything that I have and am belongs to him. When I can completely trust him, I don’t need to worry if I live or if I die. This frees me to act boldly even when my earthly knees are shaking.
Taking up my cross daily doesn’t mean dragging around a physical burden. To me it means getting my daily assignment from my King. What is it he wants me to do today with the life he gave me? My burden is that others would find their way to my King. How can I help others along their journey? Can I do or say something today that will help someone else find their life in Christ? Am I putting into practice the things Jesus has taught me about how to live? Am I loving others well? Am I making good choices?
It is hard to think clear in this world where we are taught to ask, “What’s in it for me?” We are bombarded with marketing that helps us understand what our needs are so we will buy the product that is being sold. We are taught to believe that aging is bad – staying young is good. We are taught to believe that we should never feel physical pain and we should deny emotional pain. We are taught that we can control everything and everyone around us. We are taught that happiness comes through wealth. Those who have more have more power and more control.
Jesus tells us there is another way. We can walk away from that greed and find a much better life in following him. It begins with denying ourselves and giving up our life as we have it planned and he will give us a much better life – free from the slavery of satisfying ourselves. We can find peace, joy and contentment in following him. It is a daily choice.
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