In Luke 9:23-24 the Bible tells gives us the words of Jesus, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.'”
Many times in this Christian life, we take our eyes off of Jesus Christ and look selfishly at our own desires and wants. Yes, following Jesus is not always easy – in fact it’s impossible without His strength and power in our lives. In order to keep Him first in our hearts and lives we often have to deny self and just keep pressing forward knowing that He is in control.
It is often a lonely journey in this world trying to truly follow Him, because the vast majority of people around us (even those who claim to be Christians) aren’t really interested in totally giving GOD control of their lives. Jesus NEVER promised that this life would be easy! In fact, He told us “without ME you can do NOTHING!”.
When the day gets rough and it seems we’re all alone, I am reminded of the words to this song:
I traveled on a lonely road and no one seemed to care.
The burden on my weary back had bowed me to despair;
I oft complained to Jesus how folks were treating me,
And then I heard Him say so tenderly,
“My feet were also weary, upon the Calvary road;
The cross became so heavy, I fell beneath the load,
Be faithful weary pilgrim the morning I can see,
Just lift your cross and follow close to me.”
When we think of how Jesus Christ, God’s ONLY Son, was willing to die on Calvary for our sins. How can we not daily take up our own cross and follow Him?