…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.
So, here’s the foundational paradigm for a disciple of Christ Jesus. The only way to follow Christ, is to first deny yourself. That is, to count your old desires as not worthy of consideration in order to make room for the desires of Christ. If your mind and heart are full of your own desires, what Christ wants in you and from you will find no room. There’s not enough space in your heart for both.
And then, you must decide daily to pick up your cross, which represents all the trials and tribulations that you will encounter that day. Because Jesus walks through trials and tribulations, and if you do not take up your share in those trials and tribulations, you cannot go where Christ goes. Picture starting a journey at a trailhead. And the trail leads to a scenic overlook. But the way is filled with dangers and difficulties. You don’t get the view unless you overcome the trials. Where is Christ leading? To the fulfilled purposes of God, both in the works that you do and in the righteousness you live.
This whole process of following Christ is counted as losing your life in order to gain life. Death and resurrection. But whose actual death and resurrection? And this is where the death and resurrection of Christ, the gospel, comes into play, because the following Christ only happens if you have first “lost” your life for the gospel…
