What Are You Dying To?

Anyone who desires to follow Jesus must inevitably follow him to the cross.

The culmination of Jesus’s ministry is his death and resurrection, and any faithful follower of Jesus must boldly follow him there.

Consider these words from the Gospel of Matthew:

Jesus clearly tells his disciples that to follow him means to follow him to the cross.

Most scholars argue that when Paul tells the Corinthian church to “imitate me, as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor 11:1), he means in the way that Paul is imitating Jesus’s death by surrendering his preferences for the good of the early church community.

The earliest symbols of Christian commitment — communion and baptism — are symbols of the cross and resurrection. Baptism represents the moment we enter the waters of death and rise again to new life in the Christian community. Communion is meant to be a regular commemoration of death and resurrection — “proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). The regular celebration of the blood and body is a regular reminder that we are to continually imitate Jesus by following him to the cross.

When the early church father Ignatius realizes he is about to face death as a martyr, it is only then he has the courage to say “now I begin to be a disciple” (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans, ch. 5). For the early church, true discipleship meant following Jesus to literal death!

I’m not sure where we lost this understanding. When the fourth-century Roman emperor Constantine saw a vision of the cross in the sky, he interpreted it to mean that God was promising him military victory. While it is not for me to say whether or not Constantine actually saw a cross in the sky — I do think I can stand on biblical authority to say that the cross in Scripture means death to self and not military victory. Yet, for many of us, the spirit of Constantine has crept into messaging in the church and we mistakenly believe that the cross leads to political victory, might, and worldly power.

For others, we’ve been so saturated in the Western culture’s messaging around self-discovery, that life is about living true to our desires, and that if we can live authentically we will somehow be more satisfied and successful. Sometimes this message has slipped into the church as well — we hear that if we follow Jesus, we’ll become successful and resolve all of our internal angst of self-discovery.

Can I say clearly that the message of the cross has not changed in 2,000 years? Perhaps the messages we’ve heard about the cross have changed, but the call to follow Jesus is still a call to lose our lives and die.

The cross is about self-denial, not self-discovery.

The cross is about surrendering power, not striving for more of it.

The cross is about trusting God with the outcomes of our lives, and not trying to strive, maneuver or habit-hack our way to our best lives now.

So, if you’re attempting to follow Jesus in your life, I can say with 100% confidence that there is a cross somewhere ahead of you, perhaps closer than you think.

And, I can say with 100% confidence that on the other side of that cross is a resurrection and new life that so wild and beautiful you couldn’t imagine it even if I told you — but you have to die to get there.

The pathway to resurrection is death. The pathway to a new life is letting go of the old one.

So, what death is Jesus leading you towards today? Is it a death of:

• dreams

• desires

• relationships

• a place

• a habit

• a job

• an income source

• a mindset

• a version of who you understood yourself to be

• a life plan you’ve mapped out

• a rhythm

• a source of security and safety other than God

As John Wimber used to say, “the way in is the way on.” The way into the kingdom is the cross, and the way through the kingdom is the cross.

I’d love to invite us to pray today:

• Begin by taking some deep breaths in and out. Perhaps as you breathe in pray “Come,” and as you breathe out pray “Holy Spirit.”

• Once you feel settled, begin to identify: what is Jesus inviting you to die to today?

• How hopeful are you that on the other side of this death could be a resurrection wilder and more beautiful than you could possibly imagine? Talk to Jesus about your level of hope now.

I love hearing from those of you who are coming alive and living more in love with Jesus. Always feel free to hit “reply” and let me know if there is any way that I can support you in prayer.