Jesus never said was going to be easy to follow Him. By referencing the cross in this verse, Jesus not only implied how He would die, but he gave the crowd a vivid illustration of the personal cost there was to following Him. The Jews had been introduced to this horrific means of execution by the Romans, who used it as a very effective tool of humiliation and intimidation. This crowd had watched as criminals were paraded through the streets, carrying their own cross, to the place they would be crucified…their execution very public and meant to be totally demeaning. But now Jesus was telling them they’d have to deny themselves to the point of complete surrender and sacrifice just as the criminals they saw in order to walk with Him. Following Jesus will never be easy. It starts with the willingness to give up “self”…our selfish pride and ego as we learn to trust and obey Jesus. It means taking up our cross – our own personal journey – in order to have fellowship with Him. Finally, it means humbling ourselves to the point that when people look at us…they only see Jesus.
Tag: Follow Me
Matthew 8:22 ” But Jesus told him, ‘Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’ “
What is the cost of following Jesus? Will we have to make hard choices? The big question is…are we even willing? We could be like the person in this verse who was told to walk away from the spiritual death around him. So are we willing to give up the things of this world we’ve become so cozy and comfortable with to follow Jesus? Or we could be like the person in verse 21 of this chapter who said to Jesus, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” In other words, “The things I want to do are far more important than following You. Let me do what I want first, and then I’ll follow You.” When Jesus says, “Follow Me.” it means the beginning of a life-long abiding fellowship with Him…of trust and obedience…of counting the cost, but still following hard after Him.
John 21:22 “…What is that to you? You must follow Me.”
For Simon Peter, he had come full circle from that first encounter with Jesus on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He and his brother, Andrew, were fishing when this stranger approached them and declared, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) Now three years later, following Jesus’ death and resurrection and Peter’s denial of Him…Peter has been restored and re-commissioned. “Follow Me,” is fellowship of faith and life with our Savior…it’s both inner fellowship of trust and confidence, and outer fellowship of becoming more like Him daily. “Follow Me,” ultimately means counting the cost and determining it’s all worth it.
Luke 5: 10-11 ” Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.’ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him.”
What stops us from following Jesus? Usually it’s fear…fear of the unknown, fear of the what if’s. But these brave disciples threw caution and common sense to the wind, and left everything behind to go with Jesus down those uncharted roads. If Jesus was to call you today to, “Follow Me!”…could you give up everything, and without looking back at what you had left, bravely link arms with Him and trudge forward down that unknown path together?
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