Tough Sayings...

            There’s a question that I have that has been bothering me for a while. It has to do with a lot of the hard sayings of Jesus – the sayings like “pick of your cross and follow me,” or “whoever wants to save his life must lose it,” or “if you are to be my disciple you must hate your father and mother.” We often end to gloss over a lot of these sayings either because we do not understand them or the impact they would have on our lives is too radical. It would cause us to break way out of our comfort zone.

            My question is: How much of the New Testament do we tend to ignore? These are the saying of the Messiah. Why do they not carry much more weight than a passing glance? Are they too confusing to deal with or is the real problem simply that we do not want to? It is hard being a living sacrifice day after day after day.

            When reading through the Gospels, they spell out a life well lived that we should be doing our best to imitate. How is it that our lives are so far off this course that we might ask if there is any resemblance at all? Jesus said He came not to be served but to serve. How is this reflected in our daily walks? How is this reflected in our attitude? What can we do this very day to be more like our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ? It is vital that we pick up our cross every day and follow Him. Do you understand what He means?

            I am intent on not settling for a watered-down version of Christianity. We need to use all of our efforts, our strength, our time, and our money to grow the kingdom for God. We are to be living sacrifices. When we lose our lives to servanthood now, we gain crowns of glory and gain our life in the next. By no means is this an attempt to earn salvation, but it is an appropriate response to the grace and mercy that has already been given to us.