“Jesus said, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross, and follow me.'” Mark 8:34
At first glance, this invitation of Jesus seems anything but inviting. Deny myself? How do I do that? Take up my cross? What does that even mean?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it simply, “When Christ calls a person, he bids them come and die.” Not very enticing. But the meaning of that saying of Jesus, it seems to me, is this: if we are serious about following Jesus, we go where he goes. And yes, his path leads to the cross.
One benefit of a life lived trying to follow Jesus’ way of love and justice, is that it helps strip away from us the unimportant. The things that don’t matter. Or, as a favorite passage in Hebrews puts it, we ‘lay aside every weight and burden that clings so closely, and run with perseverance the race set before us.”
Looking forward to running with you this Sunday!
K
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