Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
Today’s verse is one that we could spend a LOT of time on and is one you have probably heard before. And be prepared, we have the same verse but from another Gospel book, that will bring it back into focus in a few days. Today we will focus on what each part of this verse means.
A disciple is a follower of Christ, someone who chooses to live for Him and be obedient to His will. We typically think of the 12 disciples who Jesus chose when we hear the term, but all who follow Jesus are disciples. And we use the same term as a verb – to disciple others – which means to teach someone. Jesus taught many who followed Him and He sent them out a few different times to share and perform miracles themselves. In Luke 10:1 we see that He sent out 72 others, in pairs, to places they had not yet visited, moving ahead of them. The 12 are just the most visible and memorable to us. But YOU are a disciple, too.
To deny oneself means that we purposely choose to give up our own desires and instead to submit to God’s will. We surrender to His will for our lives rather than what we think it should be.
Taking up your cross means you are choosing to identify with Jesus and be like Him. He never promised us an easy go at life. He said it would be hard. He even said they hated Him first (John 15:18). Part of denying ourselves is tied to taking up our cross. They are closely related. And note that in this verse it says to do this DAILY. Not just once or twice, but daily. Sometimes we have to do it multiple times daily because we are human and have desires and struggles.
And finally, we follow Him. We surrender our wants, our needs, our desires, our struggles, our needs…. And we follow Him. We go where He leads us. We obey. And through our obedience we are honored by the Father (John 12:26).
In a few days we will explore all of this more in depth. Until then, mediate on ways you might be able to deny yourselves and surrender to His will.
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