Day 25: Take up your cross and follow me

Mark 8:34-35 NIV
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it."

When I used to read this verse, I think I always looked at it as another thing I had to do perfectly. It was really just another way to fail.

Now after thinking about the response that we should naturally (or super naturally depending on your perspective) be called to after choosing to believe in Jesus as our savior, I think it is something else entirely.
When you are training for a sport and your coach tells you to do something on your own time because it will make you successful, you have to follow their advice (especially in middle and high school); you can do everything half way. Your still on the team unless you quite because its too hard (because you hadn't already been training yourself on your own time) and you don't feel like your winning. But when you do the things the coach says to do, you fund that you are better prepared and being on the team and in competitions becomes more enjoyable.

Think of Jesus as that coach. He wants you prepared for what is to come. He wants you to be successful. He wants you not to give up. He has seen time and again what happens when we don't prepare our hearts to take up our crosses and live as sacrifices...all too often people say its too hard to live as Christ lived and they fall away entirely or they just stop living as a believer who does more than the nonbelievers. But it you prepare yourself for sacrifice and prepare yourself to depend on God, you become ready and willing to face the reality of living like a follower of Jesus, which isn't easy if you do the real day to day living of trying to please God and keep that relationship healthy. When you take up your cross you are ready to depend on God to give you the strength to do it; rather than trying to do as little as possible on your own and breaking when satan throws everything he's got at you because he hates you.

So rather than another rile to follow, think of it as a coach's advice on what to do to succeed in this race called life.