Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34
For over two years Jesus’ disciples traveled with Him and watched as He served, loved and healed the world’s broken. They have seen Jesus’ miraculous power and know that He is the Son of God, but the time has come for Jesus to complete His mission, to die and rise again, removing every threat against man’s soul.
It’s time to prepare those who follow Jesus for what is to come. Jesus speaks of the cross for the first time. This cross takes a living breathing mortal and exchanges it for a Savior. We have a cross too. In it we lose our lives to this world and find the spirit of hope, victory and eternal life.
Obedience to man’s laws and traditions will not do what the cross did. Jesus surrendered Himself to the cross. To deny one’s self is to put others first! All that God created us to be is found in the footsteps of our Savior, loving until we die of it.
Love,
Gretchen