Carrying That Weight

"'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.'" - Lk. 9:23-24

One has to give credit Jesus for his tenacity. He did not hesitate to challenge the same people he was trying to bring to God. He spoke the truth and never sugar-coated the difficulties people would face in their lives.

Christ tells his followers that they must give up their materialistic lifestyle and dedicate their entire lives to the service of the Lord and all the struggles that come with that way of being. He warns that those who refuse to take up this challenge will end up never receiving their eternal reward;however, those who do accept the life as a servant of the Lord will be greatly rewarded with eternal life.

This was in no way easy for the people of Palestine at that time. It is even more difficult in today's society. We are surrounded by materialism from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep at night (Maybe even in our dreams too!). We are told that we should have the newest technology, watch the latest successful television show,or wear the latest fashion. When it comes to holidays, we focus so much on the "happy" day of Easter and attempt to ignore the "darkness" of Lent. We choose to ignore the suffering and challenges Lent poses to our current lifestyles. We like the days we get stuff (Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Easter) but pretend Christ doesn't then challenge us in the gospels over the next 40 days to sacrifice earthly happiness for heavenly happiness. We are more statisfied with instant gratification than making the inventment in eternity.

Spend some time and think about what you need to give up in order to follow Christ fully. Are you up to the challenges a life of following Christ entails? It is easy to say "Oh yeah, I'd follow Jesus without any problems." The apostles said the same thing and then spent the next three years not understanding what they had really gotten into. It wasn't until after Christ was resurrected did they truly understand and truly accept the challenges of being a follower of Christ by "carrying" their crosses daily.

What we must remember is that Christ carried his cross to his death. His was the heaviest cross to bear. On it, he carried the sins of all mankind. Upon it he gave his life so that we could have the opportunity to live. All he asked for in return is that we "pay it forward" and carry our own crosses in hopes of bringing about the Kingdom of God on Earth. That is actually a pretty good deal, even in a materialistic world.