The "Hard Sayings of Jesus" (pt 1)

For those people that think that Jesus was weak of a sissy have obviously never read the Gospels (or much of the Bible). Jesus had a lot to say that made many people turn from following Him. Jesus called for a complete surrender of all we had. Luke 9 is an excellent example of this. In just one chapter Jesus calls people to "deny themselves" and "take up their cross daily" in order to follow Him. Deny yourself... everything that is of you and not of Christ must be completely denied. After which we take up our cross; the heavy, splintered, shame-filled, and despised symbol of oppression. And yet for a Christian is one of the greatest sights in history (along with His empty grave). Jesus is asking us to bear a burden that the world will look at and think foolish for embarking on this journey with joy, for taking such a task with gladness. The world will mock us and yet we happily take our crosses as a symbol of out association with the Christ. He is asking, in a different way, to deny ourselves in order to follow Him. Make no mistake, this is not a following that is going to be easy to see through. It has cost millions their lives and we ought not be so gib to assume that we can escape such an outcome yet we must embrace the opportunity to follow Him with great fervor. Paul echos this idea when he says that it is "no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me" which follows his claim to have been "crucified with Christ. I urge you (as I do myself) to follow the example of Paul in following the command of Christ.