Deny yourself and pick up your cross.
Scripture
“Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23
Observation
This is a scripture that was directed to Jesus’ disciples by Jesus Himself . Today, that’s you and I. First thing I observed was there’s no exception to the criteria of wanting to follow Jesus. Following Jesus first starts with a desire. After the desire comes the denying of yourself. This had me thinking “if truly I say I’m following the Lord, naturally there should be some form of resistance”. This resistance will be from my flesh and that’s dependent on what my weakness is. However that shouldn’t stop me, I need to wake up everyday and choose to not yield to it by carrying my cross. When I think about a cross , I think about a burden or weight and if it’s God that gives us our daily bread (Matthew 6:11) then only Him can sustain us daily whilst we carry it. You aren’t following Christ if you’re not resisting yourself everyday in some form. Denying yourself is hard, it’s like a burden or a heavy weight you carry. However this is where our helper comes in..the Holy Spirit. Following Jesus is a personal decision, one which He can’t force you but it comes at a cost. Following Jesus is a journey of sacrifice, the earlier we come into terms with it, the easier and better. It’s a losing game to gain more . The emphasis on daily means as disciples we can decide on some days we’d rather not ? (food for thought)
Application
I love to call Christianity a cheat code because you can pray to God to help you with whatever you’re struggling with. All you have to do is to be honest (Hebrews 4:16). If you don’t have the desire to follow the Lord, be honest in a place of prayer and ask God to plant that desire in you. Without desire, there would be no motivation to either deny yourself or to carry your cross daily. You have to say no and resist the things that your flesh would want you to do. If you claim to be a follower of the Lord and you’re not resisting or denying your flesh, then it’s worth taking a look at your journey again. We need to be able to lose sight of our own interests and what we think we want and ask “what does my king want?”. Does it mean sometimes we may not get what we want ? Absolutely! but do we need to trust that what He has for us is a lot better? yes. Especially when led by the Holy Spirit you have to be willing to refuse to satisfy your own desires and interests so the will of God prevails. It’s important to not pick and choose when it’s convenient or not to pick up your cross. It’s a daily affair .
Prayer
Heavenly Father thank You for Your word today. May Your word hide in my heart. I pray that You help me to deny myself and to carry my cross daily. Holy Spirit I invite You to partner with me to overcome my weakness that I may follow Jesus Christ. In Jesus Name I pray amen.