PODCAST
Dying To Live
October 27th, 2010
Genesis 44:18-34
Mark records these words of Jesus right after He tells the crowd and His disciples that in order to become a follower of Jesus, they must deny themselves and take up their cross. Jesus makes these statements just before He will literally take up His cross. Is Jesus asking us to do the very thing He did? When I’ve heard this verse preached in the past, it was always made into a spiritual posture one takes in his or her heart. However, when I reflect on it now, it seems like Jesus is literally asking us to follow in His footsteps in radical faithfulness that leads to possibly dying for one’s faith.
Chances are most of us will never be martyred for our faith in the formal sense of the word. However, it seems that Jesus is asking us to live as martyrs. As a Christian, we are called to live our lives in such a way that it may truly lead to death on a cross as we faithfully live into the command which Jesus has given us. This way, we may truly live. “O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross / Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live” (Chris Tomlin).
