Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What does it mean to deny yourself, and why did God give us so many wonderful things (love, sex, food, drink), if ultimately He wants us to deny ourselves? This must be because of our overwhelming urge to indulge. Humans always over do it, and so we must learn to dial ourselves back, lest we get lost in our gluttony.

When I think about the balance that God wants for us, I think about sunsets. They are beautiful, and we all should stop and look, and some of us delight in them, but they are fleeting, and go away as quickly as they come. God is telling us with things like these that we need to recognized god’s beauty and perfection, and even delight in it for a time, and then move on. But the true secret is recognizing it. When you get presented a pizza, or a dish of delicious lasagna, we should recognize how good it is, and that we are blessed with the ability to enjoy such things, but we should not eat the whole thing.

We must be like the grass. That when the summer showers come we can grow green and tall, but that water does not stay around for ever, it seeps into the ground and then rivers, and then lakes and oceans, so that it can be absorbed back up into clouds for the next storm. Recognizing that some times there will be abundance, and other times scarcity. But that we must not over indulge in the abundance, and not despair in the scarcity. God will always provide… but do you trust that? That is the question we must ask ourselves, and we must learn to trust, and then to recognize His great love when it happens.

What does it mean to take up your cross? Does it mean to sacrifice and suffer to the same degree as Jesus? No, we humans could not suffer as much as christ. The thought of imitating Jesus, in that way, is so unthinkable that we often ignore it as something that the lord would never ask of me, and so we think it does not apply to me. But Jesus did not mince words here, He DID speak directly to each of us to “pick up our cross daily.” So how do we understand this…? St Jerome said it best when he wrote

“When I say the cross, I am not thinking of the wood but of the passion…. Furthermore, what is the warning in the Gospel? ‘Unless you take up my cross, and daily follow me.’ Mark what it says: Unless your soul has been made as ready for the cross as mine was for you, you cannot be my disciples.”

That is a high call, but it is not a call that is beyond us. Each and every one of us is capable of this call. We must configure our hearts and minds to the call of the cross. This means being meek in the face of assault. It means returning love when you are hated, and it means sacrificing even after you feel you have given everthing that you can.

This is the economy of heaven and it is what we all will be called to when we die and go to heaven. But you cannot get that reward until you completely change your mind body and soul to this economy. You must start today. Because you will not enter heaven until you understand and desire His economy over the economy of this world. So take up your cross, whatever it is, put a smile on your face, and rest, happily, in the knowledge that your reward will be great in heaven.

Oh lord, please help me today to see your great love for us in all that you provide, and to trust that you will never forget us and that you will always provide.