Thursday, August 27, 2026
Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
If we didn’t understand before what Jesus meant by human things vs. divine things, Jesus spelled it out more clearly:
Deny yourselves. Nature has hardwired us to survive in a brutal world. We search for food, water, warmth, and safety needed to survive. Sometimes that drive takes us far beyond what we actually need, and we start to accumulate more than needed in our quest for security and power over an uncertain future.
Take up your cross. Those who carried crosses knew they were going to die. In The Denial of Death, prize-winning author Ernest Becker writes that our culture spends excessive resources and emotional energy pretending aging and death will not happen to us. But when we face that reality—when we take up our cross—how we live each day matters even more.
Follow me. Spend time with Jesus. Learn how to be like Jesus. Do the things that Jesus did.
If we look at the opposite of each of these, we understand what Jesus meant by human things: 1) Get as much as you can in order to feel more secure. 2) Idolize youth instead of giving thanks for the journey you are on that includes death and dying. 3) Do your own thing; follow no one. It’s remarkable how much these things drive the culture in which we live.
– Pr. Paul
Lord Jesus, what you teach is as counter-cultural today as it was then. Help us to transcend the culture that is a part of us by filling our lives with you… the true source of Life. Amen.
