By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

If Anyone Would Come After Me…

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.””
Luke 9:23 English Standard Version

The puppy looks so very cozy in this picture, all curled up in a comfy blanket!  Is that how you sometimes dream of your ideal life, all curled up in a cozy blanket with no pain and no hardships or struggles?  I think we all instinctively avoid pain and difficulties when we are able and we hope for a care free life.

Jesus has other ideas for those who would follow him.  “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  Not a cozy, comfortable life, but denial and a cross and a hard path following Jesus.  Jesus goes further, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”  The way of following Jesus means giving our life to him, to not hanging on to control and our own pleasures.

Why would anyone want to do this, to follow Jesus along the hard way?  Because this is the way of salvation, the way Jesus walked.  He obeyed his Father’s will, He took the hard road to the cross so that you and I might be saved.  He spurned the shame of the cross for the joy of winning our salvation.

And you and I are called to follow Him along that hard path, the path of denial and a cross.  Although the way may be difficult, Jesus has gone this way before.  It is the way of not only our salvation, but also the way that others might be saved.  And so we follow him, in a way that is not cozy or comfortable, but full of hardship and in the end, great joy!  We follow you, Lord!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado