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đź“– The most challenging part of Christianity
When He says “deny yourself,” He means it
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The most challenging part of Christianity
Like many, I became a follower of Jesus at a youth camp.
My only reason for going, however, was to get closer to a girl.
Needless to say, things took a turn.
It was around 4 pm on a hot June afternoon. I sat against the wood paneling of the camp’s merch shop next to the man who would become my mentor.
And as we talked, these words rang through my soul…
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
That quote from Jesus (Luke 9v23) was the camp's theme. And, goodness, how those words cut me.
Christianity’s Most Unattractive Feature
What is the most unattractive part of Christianity?
The traditional teaching on Hell? The verses about homosexuality? Maybe all those violent passages in the Old Testament?
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (1852) by John Martin
They’re certainly challenging but I’d argue they aren’t the most challenging.
What is then?
Bear with me, but I’d say Jesus’ teaching on identity.
Deny Yourself, Take Up Your Cross, and Follow
Let’s look at Luke 9v23 again, breaking it down into the three points of Jesus’ quote:
Deny yourself
Take up your cross
Follow Me
We’ll work from it backward, starting with…
Follow Me.
To follow Jesus means to devote your life to Him. It is, as the folks at Practicing the Way say, to be with Jesus, look like Jesus, and do what Jesus does. This is the Way to life as Jesus Himself says (John 14v6), the best path a human can walk.
But it’s not without cost.
Take up your cross.
Jesus’ Way of life isn’t popular. Just look at what happened to the Man Himself. He was crucified and nailed to a cross He was forced to carry.
To follow Him, we must walk a similar path.
In Galatians 2v20, the Apostle Paul describes himself as “being crucified with Christ.” Meaning, he symbolically put his former life to death and now endures the hardship that comes with following Christ.
It’s a renunciation that begins with…
Deny yourself.
To crucify yourself with Christ, to walk the path of Jesus, to follow Him into an eternal and prosperous life, you must deny yourself.
You must reject whatever identity you have in favor of the identity He makes for you.
Meaning, you must redefine your entire identity around the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
Meaning, you are no longer the boss, and your identity is dependent on Him.
And that’s the most challenging thing about Christianity, the fact it demands your very identity, the core of who you are.
Or, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
As many of us know, Bonhoeffer’s willingness to die for Christ was both symbolic and literal.
Why would anyone do such a thing?
Come back tomorrow and find out.
For now, be blessed.
Jon,
Theophilus Newsletter
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