What It Means to Follow Christ
Following Christ is a joyful life, but it is not an easy life. It requires personal discipline to study his word, learn his ways, and walk in them. The Lord challenged his audience on one occasion, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:23-24). Reflect on the weight of that prerequisite to discipleship for a moment.
What does it mean to “deny” oneself? It means to surrender my rights, privileges, and choices to Christ – all of them. This is what the Savior meant by “lose his life for my sake.” To illustrate, it means to hold the TV remote in your hand, but whether you turn it on or what you choose to watch, those choices belong to Christ. We give him the choice by evaluating whether or what we choose to watch by his word. We ask ourselves, “Is this a good use of my time presently? Is there something better I should or could be doing? Is this show honoring to the Lord or does it glorify sinful behavior?”
We live our lives before an audience of One. We govern our thoughts, our words, our relationships, our pursuits, our entertainment, our lives by his word. It is a life-long journey that is fueled by a growing knowledge of what pleases Him. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers, “Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more” (I Thessalonians 4:1; emphasis added).
No believer can know this kind of walk or this kind of obedience in his own power. So Christ tells those who follow him to “take up his cross daily”. The believers in Jesus’ day knew full well the implications of the cross. The cross is an instrument of death. We must die daily to self in order to “walk in newness of life” as Paul told the believers in Rome. He goes on to say, “that our old man is crucified with him [Christ], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6). The old man is that nature we received from Adam at birth that is subject to the law of sin in our members. It is living daily in the light of our death to sin that enables us to follow Jesus.
He who rejects this path in order to “save his life shall lose it”. Christ goes on to say, “For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and be cast away?” (Luke 9:25). Yes, following Jesus requires that we “lose our life for his sake.” But we dare not lose sight of the promise that goes with that requirement. Jesus promised “whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall save it.”
This admonition from the Lord remains faithful. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Which gate are you seeking?
Randy Livingston serves as a chaplain for a local police department. He writes devotionals for his ministry which also appear at his blog, From the Chaplain. We republish this post by permission.