The Cost of Discipleship – Taking Up Our Cross
Lent kicked off yesterday – a 40-day journey of self-examination, repentance, and sacrifice in preparation for Easter.
Most people hear about Lent and they immediately think about giving up sweets! You see, Lent was always meant to be a time of fasting. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness to prepare for his ministry, so we as His followers commit to a 40-day fast each year to draw nearer to Him as Easter approaches.
Wesley on Self-Denial
John Wesley wrote a sermon entitled Self Denial. Listen to his words: "By denying ourselves, by daily bearing our cross, we are then prepared to suffer with Christ. This involves the crucifixion of our flesh with its affections and lusts, the denying of all ungodliness and every worldly desire."
Why do we fast during Lent? Not because it’s tradition. Not because we are trying to show off our holiness. Not because we want to try manipulate God into doing what we want. We fast because we are called to a life of self-denial and suffering with Christ. Remember, Jesus himself said this: "'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.'" (Luke 9:23-24)
Lent is not about giving up sweets! It’s about a 40-day commitment to truly take up your cross and deny yourself in order to journey more closely with Jesus. That’s why I always shake my head at the preachers who say you should give up being nasty for Lent, or give up being impatient, or something like that. Those are the type of worldly things that Jesus tells us to crucify every day!
You can’t fast sinful things. A fast is supposed to be a period where you give up something good, because you are after something better – a deeper walk with Jesus.
Willing to Sacrifice
So how can you ‘take up your cross’ and follow Jesus the next 40 days? Maybe you fast YouTube or social media or TV, and you have a season of deep intimacy with God by spending that spare time with Him on your knees. Maybe you fast coffee, or a meal a day, or a particular kind of food for 40 days, and when those pangs come you let them drive you to God.
Are you willing, for the sake of a deep time of growth, to suffer the inconvenience of a fast? And will you use this time to go deeper with God – taking up your cross and walking more closely with Him than before?
You see friends, if we took the time to do some self-examination yesterday, then perhaps our fast for the Lenten walk can be focused on ridding your soul of those sins or habits you identified. Whenever you want to go back to the thing you are fasting, you use that time to plead with God to rid you of those ugly things you found in your heart.
Oh what a meaningful and special Lent this could be, if we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and lay those sinful things at the foot of the cross day by day for 40 days. God will surely move in a mighty way, as we draw near to Him like this.
