Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”    Matthew 16:24 HCSB

I’d like to tell you that following Jesus is all rainbows and lollipops, but I don’t want to lie. Following Jesus can be a burden to bear. Jesus goes on in this passage to say that whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Jesus will save it or find it. Let that sink in for a minute. Consider Jesus’ disciples. If you read about how Jesus selected them, you will see that they dropped everything and followed Him.

This is what we must do. It doesn’t mean we must quit our jobs or leave our families. It does, however, mean that we put Jesus first. If our job has us doing things that go against God’s word, look for another job. And don’t be surprised if you are persecuted by some family members when you leave your sin behind. Friends may desert you if you no longer want to go out for drinks. They may be upset if your Sundays are filled with church instead of taking the boat out or spending the day lounging in the pool.

When we follow Jesus, we do lose our life. We lose our old life of sin, and we become new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). As my pastor likes to say our wants change. We want to be in church on Sunday worshiping and praising the Lord. We want to serve Him by serving others. We no longer want to sin because we have let go of our old sinful way of living. We want to please our Lord and Savior.

When we do become a new creation in Christ, we are saved or we find our eternal life. Jesus goes on to say in verse 26, “What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? This life we have on earth is temporary. We should live with an eternal mindset. It does us no good to have the world and all it values for a brief period of time, but to go on spending eternity in hell.

Jesus was humiliated, tortured, and flogged. Flogging is a beating that some did not survive. It’s one where skin is ripped from the body to the point that even internal organs may be exposed. He was fully human; he felt this just as you and I would feel it. He experienced the pain and the mental anguish. All so His blood could save us for our sins. He did this for you and me, to save us from our sins.

When the Romans crucified someone, they expected them to carry their heavy wooden cross up the hill to the crucifixion site. They carry their own cross to their death if they are physically able. You may recall that Jesus became so physically weak from the beating and from carrying the cross as far as he did, that the Romans stopped a man named Simon of Cyrene. This man actually took the cross from Jesus and carried it up to Golgotha for Him. He didn’t voluntarily do this, but was commanded by the soldiers to do this.

This is symbolic of Galatians 6:2 which tells us to carry one another’s burdens and by doing so, we will fulfill the law of Christ.

When a man condemned to crucifixion carried the cross, he was carrying it to his own death. When we pick up our cross, we are doing away with our old sinful life. When Jesus tells us to pick up our cross and follow Him, He means that we die to our self. We commit to Him and we follow Him without turning back.

Jesus went through all that to save us from our sin. Are you willing to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Him without turning back? Are you willing to surrender and follow Him no matter the cost? I hope so, because this is what it takes to spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Have a great day!