…Mark 8:34-35 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
This is the only way possible to live as a new citizen in the kingdom of Heaven. It requires a full denial of the old life, and an intentional pursuit of Christ through hardship. I was saved 23 years ago, and this was one of the first verses I memorized. I know in my head what God requires of his citizens. I know it. And yet, doing it, is a whole other matter. And the longer I live this life in Christ, I see more and more clearly, one, the impossibility of doing this apart from Christ, and two, the utter distinctiveness of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man, the utter discrepancy, the disparity.
“Let Aaron, deny himself.” This is not a natural thing. “Let Aaron, deny himself.”
How about you? Do you deny yourself, in order to bear up under the cross of trial and tribulation in order to follow Christ? Let that question sit for a moment.
From the moment Jesus first mentioned his impending death and resurrection, and the new directive of the kingdom of God, the disciples have shown no desire or willingness to deny themselves and adjust to the kingdom of God. Peter rebuked Jesus. The disciples argued with the crowds about their greatness, then they argued among themselves to see who was the greatest. They rebuked a fellow disciple because he wasn’t with “them.” They rebuked the crowds for bringing children to Jesus…
