Grier Ministries' Thoughts

²³ Then He said to [them] all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it. ²⁵ What is a man benefited if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits himself?  Luke 9:23-25 HCSB

Jesus is talking here to His disciples. They had just answered His question about His identity, confirming that they knew He is the Messiah of Israel foretold in the Scriptures.  He then proceeded to explain His death, burial, and resurrection.  Since He was going through all the necessary pain and anguish to save the souls of all who call upon Him, He was explaining His expectations upon them subsequent to that surrender to Him as Savior and Lord (or Master).

The problem is that He expects us to “take up his cross daily” and then to also “follow Me.” We seldom do either one of these. First of all, if we are not born-again, then we cannot do either one. If we are born-again, then we are expected to do both and are given the power to do so through the Holy Spirit of God that abides within those that are saved. This involves two things:

1. To take up his cross daily means to embrace your death. That is, you are no longer in charge – you are ‘dead’ to your own will, desires, etc. – and you embrace God’s leading. No matter what God asks of you, that is what you do. Hard? Actually, it is impossible. But God gives each of us the power and strength to do that, if we are truly surrendered to Him. This embracing must be complete, however. That is, an absolute willingness to go as far as He did for us – physical, emotional, and spiritual torture to the point of physical death. Few are asked to go through that these days, but the willingness must be there.
2. To follow Me means that once we have denied ourselves, then we must actively participate in His plan for us. Not only must we study, pray, read, etc. to find out what His plan is – we must then organize our life in such a way as to actually do the things He asks. Not just understand the need for evangelism (for instance), but actually go out and evangelize. Not just understand the need for worship (for another instance), but actually spend time daily worshipping Him. Not just knowing that we must read the Bible and pray daily (for instance, again), but to change our schedule so as to actually read a few chapters every day in the Bible, and actually spend time (1/2 hour, for example) daily in direct communication with Him.

It sounds like a lot – and it is! But remember what He gave for us! This is our “reasonable service’ that Paul wrote of in Romans 12:1.