“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (NKJV)
These verses are often spoken about when considering a life of selflessness, and suffering for Christ. Today I feel the Holy Spirit would have us receive these words as a reminder of our freedom of choice. God gave us a free will, and we have the total freedom to choose Him. We have the freedom to wake up and choose each day to follow Jesus or not; to live a life that’s filled with Him, where we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us through every situation in life, deeper into the revelation and manifestation of the Christ.
In these verses, Jesus is saying to His audience: “You desire to follow Me? Then lay yourself down. Choose this day who you will serve. In Joshua 24:15, we read how Joshua said to the people “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” We can also read (in Deuteronomy 3:19) how Moses said to the people as they prepared to step into their new life in their new land: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
Dear friend, Jesus chose death so that we could choose life. No one forced Him to the cross or took His life from Him. He willingly laid it down (John 10:18). He chose infirmity so that we could choose health (Isaiah 53:5). He chose to be hungry and naked so that you wouldn’t have to be (2 Corinthians 8:9). He chose to lay down His rights so that you would have the freedom of choice and could live a life that is not bound to a system that controls you and tells you what to do. This is what Jesus chose – the supremacy of love; the selfless unconditional love that sees the hugeness of the price and still pays it for the sake of another. Jesus said “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16). This is the choice that Jesus made, and He chose you to live that life of free choice too. What a sacred and glorious privilege, that we can wake up daily and choose to live for Him; we can choose to trust Him; we can decide each day, each hour, each moment, whether we live to please Him or please ourselves; whether we live a life of commitment and calling (the cross) or a life that only feeds our own needs, desires and personal ambitions.
What does it really mean to “follow” Jesus in the way He invites us to? It means making a choice for Him every day. Every smallest decision is about life and death, about Jesus or self. Our greatest obstacle is not the adversary, and not the world; the greatest obstacle to freedom and following Jesus with a whole heart is “self”! Picking up the cross daily is about choosing life – the fullness of life that Jesus died for. There is no way we can truly follow Jesus the Christ unless we lay down “self” and its voice. Which do you choose today, friend? If you were standing before Joshua today, and you heard him say “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” Would the record of the past continue to speak to you and beckon you away from the path you have been called to? Or would the priorities of your co-workers and friends influence you towards the same choices as them? Would you choose Jesus and the leading of His Spirit over the voice of the world, and the voice of the flesh? And when you choose a life with Jesus, would you choose sonship instead of servanthood? Life is all about choices, choices and more conscious choices, from the moment you wake up, until you put your head down at night; and if you choose the Christ, God gives you the power of choice, and it is you who choose. So choose this day who you will walk with, and what you will do. Choose the “Life” way, the “Jesus” way, because every step you take, every choice you make is ultimately on you.
“Dearest Jesus, I yield my heart to you. Enable me, empower me; I want all my choices to be led by you. I choose this day to take up your calling and to truly follow you. I choose to live for you!”
Minoli Haththotuwa, 13 April 2022
