What it Means to Live for Christ
Have you ever had to completely start over?
Maybe you moved to a new town, started a new job, or transferred to a new school.
Whatever the situation may be, when you are learning to live in a new place, literally or figuratively, it can be unfamiliar, unsettling, and scary.
When I lost my sight six years ago, I felt like I was having to start my life from scratch in more ways than one.
First, there was the obvious way in which I had to learn to live again… figuring out how to do everything without my sight.
To say it was challenging would be an understatement.
And to say that I have learned everything there is to know about living with blindness would be untrue.
From basic tasks like pouring a glass of water and picking out clothes to more advanced chores, such as cooking a meal and navigating a college campus, gaining the skills to do it all blindly was overwhelming and frustrating at times.
Sara Claudia walking from behind with her white cane through the woods.
Even today, there are still new situations that I must figure out how to manage.
Yes, the journey has been tough, but it has also brought with it a sense of accomplishment, independence, and freedom.
It has been a journey that I never could have traveled on my own.
Shortly after losing my sight, I made the decision to rededicate my life to Christ and rebuild the relationship with Him that I had lost through my teenage and young adult years.
With this decision came the other way in which I had to learn to live again… as a follower of my Lord and Savior, not of this world or society.
In Luke 14, the requirements for being a true and faithful follower of Christ are outlined, and they are far off from how I had been living my life before turning back to Him.
In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus is explaining to a crowd of people the cost of being one of His disciples, a personal follower, and a student of Jesus Christ.
The first requirement comes from Luke 14:26.
It says,
“If you want to be My disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple.”
(Luke 14:26)
Whoa, now that seems like a very bold statement!
Does this mean that we literally have to despise everyone around us, even our family?
No, of course not.
Four friends walking together in a green field.
What Jesus means is that in comparison to how we love Him, we must not love our family, friends, peers, or self more.
In short, our loyalty and allegiance to Him should be put above all others, and we should live our lives with this priority in mind.
The second requirement for being a disciple can be found in the next verse.
It says,
“And if you do not carry your own cross and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple.”
(Luke 14:27)
Being a true follower of Christ is more than just words, we have to take action.
The best way we can do this is by living our lives according to the pattern by which Jesus lived…and gave up…His own.
What does it mean to bear your own cross?
The people who Jesus was speaking to in Luke 14 knew the answer to this question all too well.
They knew that if a man was carrying a cross on his back, he was headed straight for execution, to die on that very cross.
Most of these people were criminals, guilty of breaking laws and mistreating others.
Jesus, however, was different.
He carried this cross being guilty of only selflessness.
He sacrificed Himself for us.
A woman and a man on the opposite ends of a wooden cross looking up towards the cross.
Carrying our own cross then is about sacrificing ourselves just like Jesus did for us on the cross.
It doesn’t mean to literally give up your life, but it means letting go of your own plans and will in order to live completely by the plans, will, and pattern of our Lord and Savior.
The last requirement that Jesus mentions is found in verse 33,
“So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.”
(Luke 14:33)
To me, this last requirement seems to combine the first two.
Similar to what we are instructed to do in the first requirement, this last guideline tells us that we should not hold possessions, material goods, and other worldly objects in higher regard than the Lord.
Like the second requirement, it conveys that we should also be willing to sacrifice these possessions.
We can see from these three requirements for true discipleship that the cost of following Jesus is all about sacrifice and complete loyalty to the Lord.
We must hold Him before our family, friends, material goods, and selves… focusing on His will and not our own.
This life of selfless loyalty and devotion is very different from how I was previously living.
Its requirements are ones that I work on daily and ones that I do not always meet.
Our God is a grace-giving, loving God, who is with me as I walk in darkness, and He is also guiding me as I learn what it truly means to live in His light.
He will walk with you too as you learn to live again!
