Deny Yourself, Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus - Luke 9:23

The beloved physician Luke wrote how Jesus asked His disciples, “Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. He said unto them, But whom say you that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. And he straightly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day”, and in chapter nine and verse twenty-three of his book Luke shared how Jesus told His disciples, “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself” where we read:

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me,

let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

The verse reads, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, ...” Luke began with the words, “and he said to them all” or “and Jesus uttered, declared and proclaimed to each, every, the whole and everyone of His disciples”, “if any man” which means “whether any male or female person” “will come after me” or “will appear and follow behind and aback of Jesus”. Luke shared how Jesus presented the idea of a person who desires to “follow” Him.

The verse continues, “... let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke added the words, “let him deny himself” which means “allow and permit that person to forget and lose sight of their own self and self interests”, “and take up his cross daily” or “and raise and elevate their own well known instrument of most cruel and ignominious punishment which was borrowed by the Greeks and Romans from the Phoenicians each and every natural day or the interval between sunrise and sunset”, “and follow me” which means “and join, accompany and side with Jesus”. Luke shared how Jesus told His disciples if they wanted to “come after” Him, they were to “lose sight of their own selves, elevate their own instrument of cruel and ignominious punishment and accompany” Him.

When we think through Luke's words in this verse, we see how Jesus addressed the idea of people desiring to “come after” Him. Three requirements were given by Jesus - “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow” Him. The idea of giving up the rights of oneself is the greatest barrier to many people coming to Jesus. Because they desire to be the “captain of their own ship”, “do things my way” and do not want anyone to tell them how to live, many people never come to Jesus. God desires to have a personal relationship with every person through His Son Jesus, and when they yield themselves to Him in the manner He gave, they shall be forgiven of their sins, establish themselves as a son or daughter of God and inherit everlasting life with Him.

Next time Luke shares how Jesus told His disciples, “whosoever will save his life shall lose it”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".