Why the Gospel will cost us

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” Matthew 16:24-25

I’ve found myself a little disenchanted lately. Somewhere between things not working out, and too much on my mental plate….I’ve wrestled to feel like something is wrong because everything isn’t magically or supernaturally coming together. Something in me feels like, if I’m really living the life that I am supposed to and God is with us….that everything is supposed fall into place. The thing is, it rarely ever does. I don’t believe that I’m alone in this, but I also believe that our feelings need to be brought back to truth. Jesus was fully in the will of the Father, and he suffered. While we may be tempted to assume that following Jesus is somehow a cure all…it  actually means that following Jesus means taking up our cross. The cross isn’t an antidote, it’s an invitation. 

Laying everything down, means that we must learn what we should take up. 

There is nothing mediocre or half hearted to the way that Jesus does things. He’s clear from the beginning: to follow Him, you’re either all in, or all out. There’s no remedy for what ails us, we have to loose our life to find it. 

The truth is, the only way that we will find this new way of living is actually to follow Jesus. And the way of Jesus is the way of the cross. 

So, what does the cross mean? 

It means living a life that isn’t always full of your preferences and comfort. 

It means there are things about us that need to die, and fall away. 

It means that holding onto the old way of how we do things doesn’t work. 

And it means that the end of ourselves is the beginning of new life. 

It means owning the fact that in embracing our salvation,  a way is made that we could not earn, achieve or attain on our own. 

And it means the gateway to real life, comes at the cost of the old life being left in the grave. 

There’s nothing cushy about the Gospel. But we often think we’re doing something right if things are cushy, and wrong if we aren’t. That’s not what the Bible teaches. The way of Jesus is the cross. And the way of Jesus is different. The life Jesus lived led to death to self and then supernatural resurrection….and he asks us to do the same. The way of Jesus will cost us everything, because it cost him everything too. 

In the laying down we find what we should take up. 

In surrender we find what we are truly captive to. 

And only in death are we offered new life. 

Jesus isn’t just worthy of our anything..… Jesus is worth our everything. Let the truth sink deeply into your heart: If following Jesus is costing you something, that doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. It actually means you’re doing something right. Whatever the cost, Jesus is worthy of it all.

So much love, 

Joy