Luke 9:23

Then [Jesus] said to them all: “If any one would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

We heard a sermon on this passage yesterday, and my DD is now wondering what this interesting little snipit from Jesus really means. I think I will let her struggle with it on her own a bit, she is a bit like me and I think that will have her pouring over scriptures for the next week trying to find an answer from God. But as I send her on her hunt, I find myself seeking the real meaning here as well.

I believe the Lord led me to a section of scripture further down in Luke 9 for my answer. He sent me this passage:
Luke 9:57-62

57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

I think we can be fairly sure that Jesus meant for us to apply this to his earlier words about taking up our cross and following him. We must look to God alone for our daily bread. We must let the concerns of this world not hinder us from following Christ moment by moment. And finally, I believe Jesus is telling us that we must not ever question Him or look back, but move forward always seeking to further His kingdom. I believe this all points to us being more focused on Christ than we are our selves, our families or our lives. We need to be ready EVERY MOMENT to follow him. That may mean writing a blog post with what He has put on our hearts, it may mean stopping the car to minister to someone on my way to work, it may mean taking that risk and making sure that hurting person knows about Jesus, or it may mean dropping everything to serve on that mission field Christ calls us to. So this passage begs the question, how have I denied myself TODAY, how have I taken up Christ’s cross TODAY, and how have I followed Him TODAY??

Father, forgive my ignorance of your word. Forgive me for not pouring over it more than I do. Forgive my unbelief and my weak faith and heart. Help me TODAY deny myself, take up Christs’ cross and follow you. Give me the strength and the courage I need to face today and focus on you and not me. In Jesus name and power, Amen.