Ponder today whether or not you are willing to say "Yes" to God

"Anyone who wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24

There is a very important word in this statement from Jesus. It is the word "must". Note that Jesus did not say that some of you might follow me carrying your cross. No, he said anyone who wishes to follow me must ...

So the first question should be easy to answer. Do you wish to follow Jesus? In our heads it's an easy question. Yes, of course we do. But this is not a question we can only answer with our heads. It must also be answered by our choice to do what Jesus said was a necessity. That is to say, wishing to follow Jesus means denying yourself and taking up your cross. Hmmm, so you wanna follow him?

Let's hope the answer is "Yes". Hopefully we have decided to deeply embrace all that is involved in following Jesus. But it is no small commitment. Sometimes we fall into the stupid trap of thinking that we can "a little" follow Him here and now and that everything will be fine and we will certainly enter Heaven when we die. Maybe that's true to some degree, but if that's our thinking, then we're missing out on what life is all about and all that God has in store for us.

Denying yourself and taking up your cross is actually a much more glorious life than we could ever invent on our own. It is a life blessed with grace and the only way to final fulfillment in life. Nothing could be better than entering completely into a life of total self-sacrifice by dying to ourselves.

Reflect today whether or not you are willing to say "Yes" to this question not only with your head, but also with your whole life. Are you willing to embrace the life of sacrifice that Jesus is calling you to? What does it look like in your life? Say "Yes" today, tomorrow and every day through your actions and you will see glorious things happening in your life.

Lord, I want to follow you and I choose, today, to deny all my selfishness. I choose to carry the cross of the selfless living to which I am called. May I joyfully embrace my cross and be transformed by You through that choice. Jesus I believe in you.