Matt. 16:24-25 "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, be whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."
Desire, will, intent, determination, purpose, delight. What characterizes my life? A determination to follow Christ, or a determination to protect myself? It is hard to think that the two may be mutually exclusive, but this verse tells me that I can’t have it both ways. I either have the desire to follow Jesus, or I have the desire to save myself. I can’t have both.
If I have the will to go after the Lord, then I will deny what I want. I will give up my selfishness. I will not be connected any longer with self interest. Rather, I will lose my life. I will entirely abolish and put an end to self. This is what it means to take up my cross. The cross is a symbol of death and Jesus is saying that if I truly want to follow Him I must give up me.
The result? I will find my life. I will actually discover and understand what my life is all about. I will see what is really valuable and I will invest my time and energy and money in the things that matter the most.
On the flip side, if I find my delight in me, if I run after only what I want, if I want to live for myself I will actually destroy myself. I will die. There will be nothing of value. There will be nothing eternal. There will be nothing purposeful. The end will be a wasted life.
This is sobering stuff. We are so inclined to go after what we want. We are so drawn to do things the way we want to do them. Jesus says: “Be careful. If you do this, you will lose it all. But, if you come after Me, pursue me, follow me and give up what you want, your life will be rich and full.” It will be the abundant life that Christ came to give. (John 10:10)
So, I have a choice. Live for me and die, or die to me and live. If my desire is to follow Jesus, the choice is clear. Die to live.
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