Give it up for Jesus

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24 KJV)

Paul said, “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” What gave Paul’s life value in his mind was not the promise of a long and comfortable life, but fulfilling the task that God had given him.

When Jesus told His disciples that if they wanted to follow Him, they would have to deny themselves and take up their cross, I suspect the disciples didn’t fully grasp His meaning. After all, Jesus had not yet taken up His own literal cross. It is when they later reflected on what He had told them that these words would have an even more powerful impact.

In that same talk, Jesus went on to say, “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.” I have found that it’s important for me to periodically ask myself if I am seeking to hold on to my life or to give it up for Jesus’ sake.

This doesn’t mean that I need to seek to do the riskiest, most painful thing I can think of doing, but rather making sure that I’m not holding back from what God needs me to do, whatever that may be. [1]

Rejoicing and renouncing are two sides of the same coin. If we are to rejoice in our heavenly hope—the fact that our reward is great in heaven—it must be because we ultimately have renounced our vain hopes in the things of this world. - Jonathan Parnell

[1] Anchor Denying Ourselves