Take Up the Cross, And Follow Me.

Take up the cross, and follow Me. Those words were spoken by Christ to the rich young ruler, but they apply to all of us. That young man had plenty of evidence that he was ‘right with God’ in that he had money, position, authority and possessions. He observed the Law of Moses in all its details, yet there was still something lacking. What did he lack? He lacked dependence on the leading of Jesus!

Not What You Expected To Hear

That rich young ruler knew Jesus was the Messiah. He knew that Jesus spoke the truth about God and heavenly things, which is why he ran to Jesus when he heard He was passing by. He wanted to hear from the Savior! Unfortunately, it’s apparent that what he wanted to hear differed from what Christ told him.

Initially, Jesus referred his attention to the Father (No one is good but One, that is, God. – NKJV), and, to help him focus on God, Christ listed some of the commandments. The rich young ruler must have thought he was doing pretty good. In fact, he was confident enough in what he was doing that he let Jesus know that he was faithful to the Law.

And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”  (NKJV)

Love In Action

At that point, Jesus did a curious thing. It says that He looked at the rich young ruler and loved him, and then immediately responded with something the rich young ruler never expected.

“One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”  (NKJV)

Some people believe that Jesus will accept a person just the way they are, and while that is true it isn’t complete. Jesus looked at the rich young ruler and loved him, and yet He told him something which seemed too hard for him to follow.

Take up the cross, and follow Me. Why would Jesus deliberately tell him something like that? Because He loved him. Jesus knew that the rich young ruler relied more on his possessions than he did upon God. The rich young ruler had the chance to talk to the Messiah, and yet he didn’t really believe what the Messiah told him.

That is one of the characteristics of love; it will tell you the truth and not only what you want to hear because love does not rejoice in iniquity, it rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). That, however, was not the main point Jesus made. His instruction was to give the rich young ruler the key to living the same kind of life Jesus lives!

Take up the cross, and follow Me. Jesus may have spoken that to the rich young ruler, but His instruction is for anyone who wants to experience the life only He can supply. The key to accessing His life is actually the road to death. Not death as in our heart stops beating, but death to self – just like Jesus committed Himself to serving the Father.

Easter will soon be here, which is a cause of great celebration for Christians. He has risen! But among the preparations we see leading up to Easter morning, it’s easy to get distracted from one important detail – the cross. We need to be sure that we keep our eyes focused on Christ and not on all the things going on around us. Being willing to forsake all to follow Him is the only way to living His Resurrection Life!