MATTHEW 10:38

 Grace and peace!

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

(Matthew 16:24-25)

We are in a globalized world where we follow in the footsteps of the influencer, in the footsteps of fashion, where we follow in the footsteps of what people will say, of fear, But how much does it cost us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Who wants eternal life? We all want eternal life, we want to sit in heavenly places, sit at the table and share in the marriage feast of the Lamb, so why is it so difficult for us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, if He is the direct bridge to the father?

There is no other way, no matter how much we have studied other philosophies or sciences, no matter how well we are and how successful we are in this world, this is not the way to achieve eternal life, the way is Jesus, said Jesus in John 14:6 “ Jesus said to him: I am the way, the truth, and the life; No one comes to the Father except through me.”

To follow in Jesus' footsteps is to be willing to follow in his footsteps on the path to Golgotha, it is to be willing to sacrifice yourself, to die in his name. The disciples followed Jesus for three long years and saw wonderful things, they followed in his footsteps, but when Jesus was on his way to Golgotha, how many of his disciples followed him? Judas sold him and handed him over, Peter denied him, the others dispersed, only John was present with Mary at the crucifixion. You know, following in Jesus' footsteps towards Golgotha is not easy.

If we want to be his servants, we have to abandon our own way of life. Jesus confronts us, perhaps there is a lot of emotion in our spiritual life, we are seeing miracles and surprising things, but Jesus asks us: do you really want to be my disciples? So, abandon your old way of living, change the direction of your life, transform your thoughts, your emotions, think differently, take up your cross and follow me.

Taking up the cross and following Him is not easy, but it will bring salvation to our lives and our homes. This cross is worth carrying. Golgotha means giving up what distances us from Jesus, it means sacrificing ourselves, it means changing friends if they separate us from Him, Golgotha means that we will often suffer in our walk with Jesus, but this ends up leading us to eternal life.

Let us pray:

Lord, help me to fulfill and obey your will, it is not easy to follow you, sometimes it is difficult for me to leave comfort, simplicity, which implies less sacrifice, but today you teach me that I must follow you even when I am on the way to Golgotha, take up my cross, suffer for the gospel and renounce everything that distances me from You. In the name of Jesus, amen.