Surrender...

"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me". (Luke 9:23)

I'm not sure we truly understand the implications of this verse. I mean if we just read it we can't even understand it... To become a disciple means to learn to be like Jesus. That is a really simple definition to a really BIG ask... Because the second part of that verse asks us to "take up our cross daily and follow Him".

Our cross... What does that even mean? One of my commentaries makes this point; "To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following Him. Discipleship involves a death is like a crucifixion". Even that can be misunderstood, especially in our country, I mean we aren't "against/rejecting" Jesus so how does that apply to us?

The truth is following Jesus is living a life very different from the way our country attempts to have us live. We live in a "I want it now, I earned it, look out for yourself, etc" mentality. Yet Jesus asks us to put our selfish desires aside and seeking His desires.

I mentioned before that Discipleship involves a death like a crucifixion, which is often a slow death. This is why we need to make the decision daily to pick up our cross and follow the one who died for us. It shouldn't be a surprise that Jesus would ask the same of us. Because when we decide to die to ourselves, Jesus tells us that we can really start living...

The question is will you do it? Will you make the decision to seek God with all your heart, mind and soul? Will you seek him with everything you have? Because let's be honest we often do this for the things we want in life so why wouldn't we do it for the one who sacrificed it all for us?