Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Kierkegaard wrote: “To want to admire – instead of follow – Christ is not an invention of bad people. No, it is more an invention of those who spinelessly want to keep themselves detached at a safe distance from Jesus.” To a certain extent, if I’m truly honest, I identify with that latter category. I resonate with the disciples at Jesus’ crucifixion, who maintained a respectable distance so as not to let life get too messy. Yet embracing danger is implicit in our call to follow Jesus.
Scott Peck challenges us: “What we desperately need to re-understand is that it is dangerous to be a true Christian. Anyone who takes his or her Christianity seriously will realise that crucifixion is not something that happened to one man two thousand years ago, nor was martyrdom just the fate of his early followers. It should be an omnipresent risk for every Christian. Christians should – need – in certain ways to live dangerously if they are to live out their faith. The times have made this apparent. And in combating the entrenched forces, the principalities and powers of this world, that very much includes the risk of martyrdom. It is time for communal, congregational action and corporate risk.”
Such is the life of faith. Does it fill you with a sense of anticipation or dread? E. Stanley Jones elaborates: “Faith is an adventure of the Spirit, a going out of the whole inner life in response to something we believe to be supremely worthwhile. It is the wagering of the life, and not merely nodding of the head. It is not discussion, it is decision. It is the launching out on the highest hypothesis I know – with my life. I don’t believe a thing unless I act upon it. I don’t believe in Christ unless I am prepared to wager all to follow Him. That is faith.”
God, grant me such faith to follow you today. Amen!
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