Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23 (NLT)
I re-read Francis Chan’s book “Forgotten God” this week in preparation for some upcoming teaching on the Holy Spirit. There were a number of things that jumped off the page to me, one of them comes from this verse. It begs the question “What is my cross?” I naturally think about the trials I face each day – getting my to do list done, getting my kids to clean their rooms, overcoming my growth areas – and I feel humbled. Francis rightly calls our attention to what those following Jesus in the New Testament would understand this to mean… a call to radical faith and sacrifice.
It got me to thinking about my own life, my own faith, my own sacrifice. Am I committed to radical faith in the small things, as well as when opportunity comes for the large things? It’s a very real, and very deep question that calls us to deep reflection, but more importantly – radical action. Normally we think of radical action in terms of the large and noticeable, but I think we miss Jesus point when we only view His call to follow Him in this way.
Here’s the way Chan puts it “His call is to love those who have cheated us in business; those who have spread nasty rumors about us; those who would kill us if they could; those who disagree with us politically, practically, and fundamentally. His call is to consider everything a loss for His sake. His call is for total surrender. He calls us to give up all that we have, to give even to the point of offering up our lives as a living sacrifice. His call means realizing that His power is made perfect in our weakness, that when we are weak we are also strong (2 Cor. 12:9–10).” Chan, Francis – Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NLT)
May we know the power of the Holy Spirit in the private thoughts of our hearts as well as the sacrifice of our lives… that whatever our cross of radical faith and obedience may be, we would see God glorified – even in our weakness.