Take Up Your Cross And Follow Me

Take Up Your Cross And Follow Me

Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that he had to go to Jerusalem, and he told them what would happen to him there. He would be killed, and he would be raised on the third day. But Peter took him aside and corrected him. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” –Matthew 16:21-22

“This baby will be fine. God wouldn’t ask you to go through this again!” our friends said. We told only a handful of close friends that I was pregnant as we waited for the prenatal test results. These were godly people who loved us, and they just couldn’t imagine that we might have to endure the heartbreak of loving and losing another child.

I think this was the same sentiment that caused Peter to respond to Jesus’ words about his coming death by saying, in essence, “Don’t even say it! Surely God’s plan for you could not involve a cross!” Peter loved Jesus, and he didn’t want him to suffer. But Jesus responded by telling Peter that he was seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from God’s perspective. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me,” Jesus said (Matthew 16:24).

The disciples knew well what taking up a cross meant. They had seen condemned criminals compelled to carry their instruments of suffering and death. We want to say to Jesus on their behalf and our own, “Surely God’s plan for my life does not have to include a cross!”

What is Jesus saying here about what God wants? Does he want you to suffer? Lamentations says that “he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow” (Lamentations 3:33). It’s not that he wants you to suffer, but Jesus knows that following him may require that you suffer for his sake. He is willing for you to suffer because he’s seen the other side. He has the benefit of the complete picture, the long view. He’s seen the glory ahead for those who are willing to carry their cross, and he wants to share it all with you. He wants you to experience the deep satisfaction that comes only from heeding his call to a crucified life. He wants you to experience the mysterious and amazing joy of taking up your cross and following him.

Crucified Jesus, I hear you calling me to the crucified life, telling me that the only way to find true life is to give up my life for you. Give me the mind of Christ so I will see my life and death to myself with your perspective.

DIGGING DEEPER