Matthew 16:24,25
‘Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”‘
This verse reminds me of the Four Spiritual Laws tract. Within it, it gives the picture of the life outside of Christ, which has self on the throne and the life out of order and in chaos. While the life in Christ, has Jesus on the throne and the life is in order and at peace.
If we want to follow the Lord, we must deny ourselves. We can’t do everything we want. What does that mean? Jesus gave two commandments, to love God and others. We come into contact with people all day long. We are to love them. We are to put them ahead of themselves. Which means we have to sacrifice our agenda. Some won’t respond. That’s ok. Brush the dust off our feet and move on. We can’t reach everyone. We can pray for them, but don’t take it personally.
When Jesus talks about saving our lives, He isn’t talking about salvation, but about putting one’s self first. That’s not how He does things. It’s His kingdom first. That was demonstrated by Jesus. He could have come into this world with a flash and a bang; choirs of angels could have been heard worldwide along with a light show. Not so, He came while His parents were traveling. There weren’t any lodgings available, so they were in a barn when Jesus was born. He was raised in Nazareth, which was a bad neighborhood.
That doesn’t mean we have to choose to live in bad neighborhoods, but not to forget those that are. We are to reach the least of these. We are to grow where we are planted. As we go through our days, we bump into others. We are to bless them.
I used to feel guilty about having hobbies. I’ve since learned that God is good with our interests. He will bless them. I did have to put them under His lordship, but within that He is good with them. They become avenues in which to reach others.
Jesus introduces an interesting phrase here, to “take up his cross”. I’m not sure if that was a common phrase of the day. It means to die to one’s self. That’s what we’ve been talking about. To put others ahead of ourselves.
Our natural desire is to grab everything for ourselves. Like kids rushing in to grab candy from a piñata. We are pushing others aside to have as much as we can for ourselves. While that’s fun at a party, it’s not a good philosophy of life.
The last command Jesus said in this verse is to follow Him. That’s what christians do, they follow Him. We do this by living by the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, (Matthew 7:12).
The other way we follow Him is to let the Spirit guide us. Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” Pray for His guidance. It usually is done by Him without our knowing. Sometimes we have to make a choice. Often times the bible doesn’t help us. Often times it doesn’t matter to God. Sometimes it does. Pastor Buddy Owens prays, “Lord, I’m gonna do this. Let me know if that’s a bad idea”. Other times God confirms it with His peace. He may remove that peace to tell us to not do something.
Thank You, Jesus, for this directive. Thank You for allowing us to follow You. Thank You for Your model and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.