November 8: Being worthy of Him

The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.  (Matthew 10:37-39 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)

This passage teaches a very basic principle of being a Christian and following God. Unlike what many people think, following God is not a casual thing that you do every once in a while when you feel like it. Following God means putting Him before everything and everyone. Like the passage says, if we don’t put him before family, we’re not worthy of Him. He has to come before our money, our time, our family and friends, our pleasures, our career and everything else. He doesn’t want to spoil our lives and take away all pleasure, in fact He wants to improve our lives. When we put Him first we become better husbands and fathers, better wives and mothers, better sons and daughters… whatever we are we become better at it.

Taking up our cross and following Him mean that we should be committed to the point that we are willing to die for God. The cross was the manner in which the Lord Jesus died, and it is a reminder of how Satan and his demons are defeated, and how we are forgiven for our sins, but it is also a reminder of how we also need to die for Him. We don’t have to be executed on a cross — though some of the disciples were — but we have to die to our flesh, and give up the pleasure of going along with temptation, and living like everyone else. The cross means that we have to be willing to be made fun of by co-workers, family, or friends because we don’t live the way they do. The cross means that we die to worry and fear, and choose to live by faith.

The last sentence of today’s passage is so beautiful. If we find our lives (hold on to them) we will lose them, and only if we lose our lives (die to our own will) we will find them. It’s the wonderful paradox of life. If we carry our cross daily and die to ourselves, we will then, and only then, discover true happiness and strength. If we try to hold on to everything in this life and do things our own way, we will lose everything. 

We know how the large majority of people have chosen to live, our challenge is to be different.