“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matt. 10:38)
Expanded Passage: Matthew 10:38
The day we got married, the pastor said to my wife and me, “Today you are no longer two, but one, united in Christ Jesus.” From that day forward, I was no longer living for myself; I was blessed with a bride. I had to learn how to live for her, with her, and beside her. We took two separate lives and merged them into one unified life together. I had to surrender the life of a single man in order to fully embrace the life of a beloved husband. This, of course, is just a simple way to understand the complexity of what Jesus said to his disciples.
Instead of merging two lives into one, Jesus said to his disciples that they had to die to themselves. They had to be willing to lose the life they once knew to gain the life Jesus was offering. In their culture, the image of the cross was death. Jesus was saying we must be willing to let go of the life we once knew and let that life die to gain the life God has for us—an eternal life. We can no longer live in sin. Through Christ, we can live a sanctified life of discipleship. Just as a husband leaves to join his new bride, we must leave our old life to join Jesus Christ.
Let go of your old life to live a sanctified life.
Andrew Christman, a proud veteran of the US Army, serves as a hospital chaplain in Columbia, SC. He is a graduate of Wesley Seminary (IN) and an ordained Wesleyan pastor.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
