Costly Grace 2

Mark 8:34

When I entered into the ministry I first had to attend a week-long school with various classes on how to be a pastor. One of the concluding services to that program involved each of us candidates going forward and standing in front of the cross. At the cross we were each to confess to God what it was in our lives that we would give up for God.

In this season of Lent every one of us who call ourselves Christian must examine our faith and our relationship with Christ. Each of us must determine what it is that we can give up for God. We must decide what it is that we will sacrifice so that we might be closer to our Lord and Savior.

In this passage from Mark Jesus is traveling with his disciples in the villages near Caesarea Philippi when he calls his followers to his side. What does Jesus say we must give up? What must we take on?

Jesus gives fairly simple instructions, but presents a challenge that is hard to live out. If any person will follow in the footsteps of Jesus, if any person will try to live a life of holy action and holy thinking, then that person must learn to deny themselves. Such denial goes beyond giving up a particular piece of our lives – refraining from eating certain foods or doing certain actions.

To deny oneself means to put our human desires aside, putting our own wants and wishes in a lower position. This clears the way for the cross we must take up. And the cross is the symbol of sacrifice, the representation of giving and loving completely.

We are to put away the wants of the world – our desires for wealth and power and personal comfort – and replace them with an attitude of service to God. We need to go beyond simply letting go of certain things that may control what we do. Once these are removed they must be replaced with an attitude and desire to be more Christ-like in our thinking, speaking and acting.

The cross we should pick up is the cross of loving others, of desiring what is best for others, and what is best for the Kingdom of God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What cross of costly grace do you need to pick up?