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?  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.”  Mark 8:34-38 NIV

Have you ever heard someone say, “you get what you pay for”?  Perhaps you have had experience with that phrase yourself.  You see I really enjoy being outside and working in my yard.  Good lawn equipment tends to be expensive and I have learned the hard way that buying cheap lawn equipment is more costly in the long run.  I have bought cheap lawn equipment that sometimes doesn’t even last through the season and I have bought expensive lawn equipment that is still going strong after more than ten years.

You could say the same for the amount of effort that you put into a job.  We all know that anything that is quick and easy usually doesn’t yield the same type of reward or results as something that is more time consuming and difficult.  More simply put, you are not going to get a high quality diamond for the cost of a cubic zirconia, just saying.

Now in today’s scripture passage, Jesus is explaining the cost of discipleship.  He is explaining to them that it costs a great deal to follow Him, but the reward is well worth it.

First, he explains that anyone who follows Him must deny themselves.  This is very hard to do.  This means that what we want has to go on the back burner.  This means that we forego saying and doing what we want to say and do in order to be in God’s will and do what He would have us to do.  In weight loss terms it’s like foregoing the bag of M&M’s for the apple.  Yeah, I know, really hard stuff to do, right? We take up our cross, our burdens, the things that weigh us down and follow the Lord.  It means that you give up your life.  Yes, I said you give up your life.  You see by nature we are sinful.  We have fleshly desires that cause us to get into trouble if left unchecked.  We must give up our sinful life and trade it for a life that is God directed.  In Proverbs 16:9, we are told that we can make our plans, but God determines our steps.  When we make the decision to follow Christ, we become new creatures, we get a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17).  The problem with this new life is that God never promises us that it will be filled with rose gardens.  When we decide to follow Jesus, the devil comes against us.  The devil will use people to try to get us off course.  He will put evil people in your path, so you must be on guard at all times.  1 Peter 5:8 tells us that we must be on guard because the “devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour”.

Now remember when Jesus was arrested, even Peter denied knowing Him.  However we know that Peter was truly sorry, repented, and went on to spread the gospel and do miracles in Jesus’ name.  Peter repented and was redeemed.   But one of the simplest tricks the devil uses is to make us ashamed of our love for Christ and the gospel.  In today’s society it is more acceptable to be a sinner. If you are a sinner then you have all kinds of rights, you have large groups that will lobby for your rights.  If you are a Christian then you may be labelled a religious nut. They are steadily trying to take away our rights.  So what do you do?

Well, the Bible is very clear on what we are to do.  We are not to be ashamed of the gospel.  We are to proclaim the gospel.  Perhaps you are not someone that can easily give your testimony, but you can let your daily lives reflect the love you have for your savior.  You can let people see Jesus Christ in the way you talk and live your life.  2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.  But avoid irreverent, empty speech, for this will produce an even greater measure of godlessness”.

Easter should not be one day a year for us as Christians, it should be celebrated everyday.  We should not let a day go by that we are not thankful and proud of what Jesus did for us on that cross.  We should let it show in our words and our deeds.  While there may be many things I do not know, I know this-I don’t ever want Jesus to be ashamed of me, especially when I stand before God the Father at the throne of judgement.

So my prayer for you today my friend is that you come to know Jesus if you don’t know Him already.  I pray for those of you that know Him that you will be proud of Him and boldly proclaim Him in your everyday life.  Be mindful of your witness, the devil is constantly trying to destroy it.  Your cross is heavy to bear but the reward far outweighs the efforts.  This is one case where you get way more than what you paid for!

Have a great day!