Pick Up My Cross, Deny Myself and Follow Jesus
Mt 10:38, Mark 8:34, Lu 14:27
What does this teaching mean? This is directly from Jesus. People have interpreted it to mean everything from literally carrying a wooden cross across town to intentionally becoming poor simply for the sake of denying self.
But what did Jesus mean by this?
Simply put, we are to deny our will and live for the will of God. We are to value Him above all other people and things. We are to put othersÕ needs ahead of ours. Test this against the above scriptures.
---------------------------Discussion of these extremes
When Jesus said this, (subject scriptures) He had not yet gone to the cross. He had not yet carried the cross to Golgotha. When He did carry the cross it was to His death. This is key.
We gain nothing by carrying a heavy wooden cross and exerting ourselves. Many religions have taught that we should hurt ourselves in order to demonstrate our denial of self (eg. Penitents). The point Jesus is making is that we must die to self. Jesus died after carrying His cross as He laid down His life for ours. Likewise, we are to die to our self will, our self-determination and lay down our life for others. How we do this is unique to each individual.
Similarly, we are not demonstrating the following of this teaching by becoming poor or maintaining a financially poor life. At best, this is only half of the teaching. We are to follow Jesus. We are to love others and put their needs above ours. Those who live a financially poor life for the sake of being poor and deeming this to comply with scripture are missing the point.
For example: If you are too poor to own a car, how can you meet with someone or carry them to their appointments? If you are too poor to put gas in the car, how will you minister to others? If you are too poor to maintain a home, how will you be in good health and able to minister to others? If you are too poor to provide food for yourself, how will you be in good health to minister to others? If you are too poor to pay for heating your home, how will you be in good health and good spirits to minister to others?
To carry this further, if you have nothing to share how will you share?
---------------------------Properly demonstrated denial of self
To deny ourselves pick up our cross, and follow Jesus is to do what He did. Namely, to relinquish our will, live for the will of God, and to put othersÕ needs above ours.
For example: We might fast for lunch because we bought someone else in need a lunch. Maybe we sent that money to the poor or an orphan or a widow somewhere. (Note that we had the money to start with)
Another: We might use our skills to serve others. If we are a builder, or auto mechanic, or handyman, or engineer, or teacher, or other skilled person we might use our skill outside of our employed life to serve others with the same need who cannot afford to pay us. Note that we had the skill and we gained it through financial expense and a sacrifice of a season of our life. If we had not, we could not share it.
Yet another: We might find that we have been blessed by God with a nice vehicle or a nice home that we can then share. We can provide transportation for those in need, we can run errands for those in need, and we can provide a place to stay for the homeless or the incoming missionary. In doing this, we have converted our personal possession into a tool to be used for God by serving others. Sure, we donÕt want that ÔstinkyÕ stranger in our car or our home – but if we are to deny ourselves this is what is called for. Self denial is not becoming intentionally homeless or without a car.
-------------------------------The Main Point
We will find that we devote more of our waking hours in serving others than pleasing ourselves. We will exchange some of the time we spend on our passions and hobbies for time spent serving others. Our weekends and evenings will become a time to serve others. We will deny using our prosperity at the total expense of serving others.
Our lives will become Spirit led as we always ask the Holy Spirit for the LordÕs direction in how we spend our time and our resources. Our lives will become Spirit led as we always ask the Holy Spirit for the LordÕs direction on how we can use the blessing He has given us to serve others. God has made us rich so that we can be generous in every circumstance. So, look for those circumstances to be generous with your heart.
------------------------------How to find the balance
Jesus does not call us to obey this scripture at the expense of creating a mess out of our family rather that we should even exhibit it within our family. There are opportunities presented to us each and every day within our family and within our vocations. As we open our eyes to this way of living we will see no end to the opportunities each day, and we donÕt even have to go out looking for them! God brings them to us. We should even pray each day that He would bring them to us or show us where to go and minister.
------------------------------How to measure your Sonship through self-denial