What If Jesus Really Meant What He Said?

If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. [Matthew 10.38-39]

What if Jesus really meant what He said? 

This is the proverbial "elephant in the room" no one really wants to talk about. This is where pure undefiled relationship with God takes a u-turn to become false religion. This is where abstraction sets upon what is otherwise clear instruction in God's Word. This is overwhelmingly where the alleged Church finds itself today.

It matters not how many books have been written or how many sermons have been preached to "soften the blow" of Jesus' hard words... Do we dare to interpret the Bible to suit our comfort level? Why would we presume to know more than God? Who would think of such a thing?

"God knows my heart" won't cut it because the fact is, God indeed knows our hearts:

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? [Jeremiah 17.9]

So, if we cannot trust our own heart, who or what can we trust? God's Word: Jesus Christ. Period.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.6]

How do we identify deceit in our lives? It's simple: the deceiver of mankind would have us focus on ourselves instead of God. This self-centric disregard for what God said is idolatry - it began in the Garden of Eden. 

If then we cannot focus on deceit, we must focus on the Truth. Jesus spoke that Truth, so, we cannot ignore what He said! Jesus really meant every word He said.

Would it not be even more important to do what Jesus said if He repeated it? That is precisely what Jesus did:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]

Yes, Jesus really meant every word He said.

Father, every one of us makes a decision every day to either follow Jesus, or follow our own heart's idolatrous desires... even knowing that our hearts are "ground zero" for all manner of deceit. Help us to get real - help us stop deceiving ourselves and each other. Help us make personal every directive Jesus gave for all who be His followers. May we truly be found giving up our own way, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. So be it.