Deny, Take Up, Follow

(This is part of an Easter series The Seven Sayings of Jesus on the Cross.  To view all posts in this series, click here.)

Jesus once made a very simple statement, a call, of sorts, to those who would want to follow Him.

And He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  ~Luke 9:23 KJV

In this simple call, Jesus gives us three things that are imperative to successfully following Him:  selflessness, endurance, and surrender.

Selflessness

“Deny himself”   Who wants to do that?  Not me!  That makes sense, though, because denying myself would have exactly nothing to do with what I want for me, and everything to do with allowing myself to be used for God’s purposes.

Endurance

“take up his cross daily”  The cross Jesus bore weighed heavy on His shoulders as He carried it up Calvary’s hill to the place where He would ultimately yield His life for the salvation of the world. 

Surrender

“and follow Me”  In order to follow someone, I must surrender myself to their complete authority.  Even Jesus, in giving His precious life, had to surrender to the will of the Father.

Jesus made seven statements during His crucifixion.  In these seven statements Jesus beautifully models selflessness, endurance, and surrender.  In this next week leading up to Resurrection Sunday, I will have several posts considering the “famous last words” of our Savior and what they mean to us.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  ~Galatians 2:20 KJV

In Jesus’s life He would show us how to die while living.  In His death on the cross He gives us the example of how to live while dying. 

I’m A Believer!

Laura