"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" Matthew 16:24.
These words were spoken to Peter and his companions shortly after Jesus predicted his upcoming suffering, death, and resurrection. Peter, as you may recall, took Jesus aside and rebuked him. "Never, Lord" he said. "This shall never happen to you". But as we know, it did.
Obviously Peter thought he was doing Jesus a favor by attempting to keep Jesus from making his way to the cross. But he failed to understand that the reason Jesus emptied himself from His Father's glory was to become like us, to take on our very likeness, and in obedience, offer himself on the cross for our sins. To do otherwise would be disobedience. And we would still be left in our sins. Yes, for Peter to follow Jesus, he must get behind him.
Was it costly for Jesus to be obedient to the Father? Yes - it cost him his life. Was it costly for Peter to follow Jesus in obedience? Yes - ultimately, it too cost him his life. But what about us? Is it really costly for us to be obedient to God as we seek to follow Jesus? That has been the discussion.
There has been no physical persecution for any of us in our study. No one has lost a job because of faith in Christ. No one lives in fear or danger because of following Jesus. Yes, a few have been made fun of. A few have some family struggles amongst each other as it pertains to going to church, being in a Bible study, or desiring to grow in the faith. But over all, do we consider it a cost to follow Jesus?
I guess I'd just like your feedback regarding costly obedience and what you think it means to "deny self and pick up your cross". Personally, when we were called into ministry we felt it was quite a cost - leaving our home and moving 12 hours away. Not sure how we would make it financially. Unsure of what the future would hold. But in the bigger picture, and as we look back, was it really a cost? We've made friends wherever we've been - Chicago, Salina, Leoti, and now heading to Mulvane. God has always been true and faithful. He has always provided. So is that a cost? And then I think of those who die daily for the faith throughout the world. Now to me, that's a cost.
So what do you think? What's your cost for following Jesus? Is there a cost? How do you understand it? Just click the comment button. I'd like to hear what you have to say.
4 comments:
Here's the funny thing...oftentimes when you think doing something for Jesus is going to cost you, you find out that in fact you were blessed! Take for instance a couple of weeks ago. Our Sunday School class was in charge of giving a program at two different nursing homes on a Sunday afternoon. I was not in a good mood, as I knew this would COST me a big chunk of my day off to "rest". Elderly folks at both services went out of their way to thank us for doing this for them, several with tears in their eyes as they said it. Turns out it didn't cost me anything, I actually received a blessing instead!! Go figure!!
I think that this life costs so much, especially if you DON'T follow Jesus. How can the cost of following him be anything compared to that of NOT following him. Sometimes its hard for me to understand what following him means. I don't realize that I didn't follow him until after the fact. Is is really true that the road to hell is paved with good intentions? I sure hope not in my case!
By the way, are you sure following Jesus means going to Mulvane??? You might want to double check that one.....we will miss you greatly!
Great post! Too often we don't think about what it cost because we are in "the Land of the Free". I think we don't really hear enough about obedience. I am learning that just loving God isn't enough. We have to be obedient to his word. Whether it's tithing 10% when we don't have anything left over for our "fun" or just trusting God to get us through a bad situation. Like others we sometimes don't want to give up our time because we are so busy with our own lives, but when we do we are paid back with many blessings.
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