Friday
(We apologize for not having the audio version for today's blog - audio will resume next week)
Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and
take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for me will save it. What
good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very
self?
- Luke 9:23-25
We have been reflecting all week on what Jesus really meant
when He said that in order to follow Him we must deny ourselves and take up our
cross daily. Admittedly, the idea
of self-denial and cross bearing is not the most pleasant image (especially in
our culture of comfort). However,
in 9:25, Jesus gives us the perspective we need in order to understand why
self-denial is so important for the true disciple. A disciple of Jesus understands that this world is
insignificant and fleeting in light of eternity.
Richard Baxter, in his profound
book, The Saints’ Ever- lasting Rest, writes,
“Lord, what a strange madness is this, that men, who know
they must presently enter upon unchangeable joy or pain, should yet live as
uncertain what shall be their doom, as if they never heard of any such state;
yea, and live as quietly and merrily in this uncertainty, as if all were made
sure, and there were no danger! Are they awake or asleep? What do they think
on? Where are their hearts? If they have but a weighty suit at law, how careful
are they to know whether it will go for or against them! If they were to be
tried for their lives at an earthly bar, how careful would they be to know
whether they should be saved or condemned, especially, if their care might
surely save them! If they be dangerously sick, they will inquire of the
physician, What think you, sir, shall I escape, or not? But in the business of
their salvation, they are content to be uncertain.”
The irony of Jesus’ perceptive
statement is magnified by the fact that few of us ever come close to gaining
the whole world. But even if we could do it, Jesus says, what good is it if we
forfeit our own soul? The famous
evangelist George Whitefield once told of seeing some criminals riding in a
cart on their way to the gallows. They were arguing about who should sit on the
right hand of the cart with no more concern than children who are going
somewhere with their parents. It seems absurd that men who are about to die
would be arguing about who gets the best seat in the cart! Yet isn’t that an indictment of us
all? We’re all about to die! This life is so fleeting and uncertain.
Eternity is ahead. Yet we devote ourselves to gaining position and possessions
in this world, with no thought of the world to come!
The Christian life must be
lived daily by keeping in view the shortness of this life and the
insignificance of the things of this world in light of eternity. When he was
just 19, Jonathan Edwards wrote down 34 resolutions that he committed himself
to practice for God’s glory. Number 9 was, “To think much, on all occasions, of
my dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death”. That may strike you as a bit morbid for
a young man, but Edwards was seeking to live in the light of eternity. A few
months later he wrote, “I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would
live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, That I will live
just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age”.
Jeff Frazier
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