![[Photo of a Scripture verse]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/Matthew_10_38-39.jpg)
| “And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” |
| —Matthew 10:38-39 |
I often use the phrase “followers of Jesus” in writing one of my blog posts. Recently, I received an email that asked me if I could more precisely define what I meant by that term. So, I’m going to try to do exactly that.
Literally, a follower of Jesus is one who endeavors to find out as much about Jesus as possible: what He had to say, how He would act, what core principles ruled His life, what instructions He might have given. Armed with this knowledge, a follower of Jesus will then attempt to speak like Jesus would speak, walk the road of life in the same manner that Jesus did, treat others like Jesus did, develop the same core principles for life that Jesus developed. A follower of Jesus is literally emulating the life of Christ in that person’s own reality.
Jesus often gave us clues in Scripture as to how He expected His followers to live. For example, please take note of this passage found in Matthew 10:38-39:
And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
The cross of Calvary was the greatest burden the Lord Jesus Christ had to bear. For on that cross, He bore the sins of all humankind, paying the penalty for our sins. In a similar manner, every human has a cross to bear in life. It begins with the sin nature we inherited from Adam and continues on as we sin purposefully in our own lives. In these two verses, Jesus is telling us that to follow Him we must pick up our cross and walk in the way He would walk. He also shares an important truth when He reminds us that only by losing our lives—that is, giving Him control of our lives—will we find out what life is really all about.
We can only know life as God intends it when we consciously put aside our own selfish wills and seek to allow God, through the Holy Spirit, to control the way we live. Therefore, it makes sense, at the beginning of this new day, that we should do just that. Are you with me?
