Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

                                                                                                         Matthew 16:24-26

Today: Read Matthew 16

Today’s passage reminds us that following Jesus can be costly. Never forget that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus’ provision on the cross (John 3:18, Galatians 2:16, Acts 13:38-39). But for everyone desiring to follow Jesus, He gives this threefold command.

(1) We must deny ourselves. The Christian life is a selfless life. I believe there are two very practical results of denying ourselves. First, we are not to love the world or the things in the world (1 John 2:15-17). This doesn’t mean you cannot enjoy your life. God created this world and placed us in it. After creation, God declared everything as “good” (Genesis 1:31). Enjoying God’s creation is one of the most fulfilling things that we can experience. “Loving the world” means taking on the philosophy of the world, namely that this life is all that there is and therefore we should allow our own desires to drive our course. Scripture tells us that love for the world indicates that the love of God is not in us (1 John 2:15) and by living this way we make ourselves enemies of God (James 4:4).

The other aspect of denying ourselves comes in placing the interests of others above our own (Philippians 2:3-4). This goes against everything in our fleshly nature. The world teaches us that we are to look out after our own interests, but Jesus calls us to deny ourselves and take up the cause of those around us. Christians should be the most gracious, loving, and merciful people on the planet. When we treat others the way we want them to treat us, we fulfill the Law of God (Matthew 7:12) and display a life of self-denial.

(2) We must take up our cross. For the 1^st century hearer living in the Roman Empire, taking up a cross was a physical reality. Christians in that century would often suffer martyrdom for the name of Jesus. For us today, this is figurative language. The cross represents the ultimate in suffering and persecution. Practically speaking, taking up your cross means that we as believers should expect persecution. Jesus made this abundantly clear. If the world hated Him, they will in turn despise His followers (John 15:18-21). We are reminded that we are blessed when we experience persecution for the name of Jesus because it validates our place in His kingdom (Matthew 5:10-12). When we confess Jesus on earth, He will confess us in heaven (1 John 4:15, Matthew 10:32).

(3) We must follow Jesus. He designed us with a purpose, but we will only discover this life when we yield our plans to Him. Christians should always be sensitive to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This can only come when we decide to commit our ways to Him. I believe the issue of following Jesus comes down to how much we actually trust Him. Living by faith means knowing that God has our best interest in mind and that we can trust Him to accomplish in us what only He can do. But following Jesus means we need to be “all in.”

There is a spiritual principle at work in this passage. The first half of the principle is the negative reality: “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” When we trade spiritual life for material things, we make one of the worst trades known to mankind. Material things are temporal, meaning that they are only tangible to this life and do absolutely nothing for us in eternity.

The other half of the principle is equally true: “Whoever loses his life for the sake of Christ will find it.” Interestingly enough, “losing everything” for the sake of Christ actually works in our favor. We find abundant life here and in eternity. Just like the threefold command Jesus gives to His followers, this principle runs counter to anything the world understands.

We will close with two rhetorical questions Jesus uses to bring home the point. “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul?” What a great question. The obvious answer is that he profits nothing. “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Again, the answer is obvious. He can offer nothing for his soul. You cannot buy eternal life. Simply put, to focus on material possessions is to invest in something that you cannot keep. Investing in God’s kingdom is the most rewarding life and produces riches that last forever.

How are you investing your life?