Luke 9:18-27 is a passage that I regularly preach on. Recently I have been challenged to think through whether I’m willing to put into practise what I’ve been preaching. Check out what Jesus says is non-negotiable for one of his disciples: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (verse 23)
Denying self, taking up cross and following Jesus. Recently I’ve been thinking and praying through where and how to serve Jesus once college has finished. I’ve realised that following Jesus may lead to doing things that would have never even crossed my mind a few years ago.
We’re really starting to count the costs of what this could mean, convinced that whatever we do, following Jesus “demands my soul, my life, my all.”
I have been reading a book about famous preachers this weekend. Here is a quote from A. W. Tozer:
‘The cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. he was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good.
God offers life but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God’s just sentence against him.’
There is an uncompromising seriousness here that I find very uncomfortable. It cuts against the grain of my old self and the world in which I live. It’s something I need to dwell on daily and apply rigorously, rather than add as an attachment or modification to a life of selfish comfort.
Here is another quote along similar lines from Robert Murray M’Cheyne. This time with regard to ministry.
‘A man cannot be a faithful minister, until he preaches Christ for Christ’s sake – until he gives up striving to attract people to himself and seeks only to attract them to Christ.’
What a challenge!