Journey Through The Bible
     Old Testament Reading: Genesis 3-5
     New Testament Reading: Luke 9

Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).

Over the years, I’ve heard different people say that they had a particular illness or disease and that was just their cross to bear, or they were in a difficult relationship or dysfunctional family, and that was their cross to bear. But that’s a misunderstanding of the Scripture. Jesus wasn’t implying that a cross to bear is a burden that we must deal with because of the circumstances in our life.

In Jesus’ day, the cross was a tool of the executioner. It was a symbol of shame, guilt, suffering, and rejection. It would be like saying today that you must go to the electric chair or go to a gas chamber. It meant certain death.

Jesus was saying if you wanted to follow him, you need to surrender your life to Him. The apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

In America today, we hear a lot of what is called the gospel of easy believism. How often have we heard all you have to do is believe in Jesus and you will have eternal life? Or just pray this prayer and you will be saved.

James dispels that myth rather quickly as he said, “You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder” (James 2:19).

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matt 7: 21).

Salvation is certainly free, but, at the same time, it costs us everything. We are to die to ourselves as we change into the likeness of Christ. Saving faith in Jesus means we must daily surrender our lives. We need to put Jesus first in our life in all that we do and in all that we are. This kind of life seems foolish to the world, but to the Christian it is wisdom. To save your life is to ultimately lose it. But to give your life to Jesus Christ is to save it and be able to live a life in fullness, not just in this world but for eternity with God.