Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 7

We come now to the fifth of the six hallmarks of a disciple of Jesus. Jesus says this in Matthew 10:38-39,  “And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.” The fifth marking or hallmark of a disciple is that a disciple gives up his own life.

Selfishness is so prevalent in our world today. It seems rare out in the streets to see simple courtesy. If you do not believe that than you must not be driving a car in traffic. Everybody seems so in a hurry and if you get in their way by obeying the speed limit people will try and run you over and usually when they pass you some form of aggression is passed to you at least in the means of a dirty look or nasty gesture. In other words, “Get out of my way. I am more important than your desire to follow the law.”  The world has become a “me, me, me” world. Psychology speaks so much of self-esteem and tells us “we” are important.

Jesus preached a different philosophy. His, unlike the world’s, speaks of complete self-denial. Even to the point of death. No one denies that to Jesus love is an imperative. Jesus however steps up the meaning of love quite a bit. He says this in John 15:12-13, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.”

Jesus did what He expects us to do. Die for others. Jesus wants us to give up our wants, our desires, and even our needs in an effort to do what He has already done at the cross. We are to “take up our cross and follow Him.” Taking up our cross does not speak of the difficulties of everyday life or even the tragedies that happen in our lives. Taking up our cross means we sacrifice everything we have, including our lives to follow Him. This means we drop our pride and apologize even when we don’t feel like it. It means we share the blessings God has given us in this life such as our money, our time, and our talents. It means we forgive others. It means we forgive each other no matter what the crime. Period. It means our forgiveness has no limit. If our brother keeps doing the same thing over and over we forgive and we love him by helping him up every time he falls. This is what Christ has done for us.

This is a hard teaching and probably few of us ever attain the completeness of really following Christ in this manner. But we must seek the power of God’s Holy Spirit on a daily basis to attain this quest of pure self-denial if we choose to follow Christ. The first disciples left everything behind to follow Jesus. We must do the same.