Denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Jesus is not easy. True faith in Jesus Christ is costly. There is a heaviness to Jesus’ words in Mark 8:34, a reminder that the Christian life is not a sideshow, it’s not a weekend hobby. It’s an all embracing call to repentance and faith. That means following Jesus is certainly not something we can do by ourselves. We need the help of God’s Holy Spirit, we need the encouragement and fellowship of God’s church and the loving visits of elders.
We also need to hear the regular preaching of the gospel so that we can be reminded that the call to follow Jesus is not a burden, but a promise:
Mark 8:35: Those who trust in Jesus, those who lose their life for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
Mark 8:36–37: Jesus knows the truth about the value of our lives. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose
(Jim Elliot, a missionary who went to try and reach the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador, and was killed by them).
Mark 8:38: Jesus will come again to judge the world and if we follow him now, he will not be ashamed of us then.
31 Alors il commença à leur apprendre qu'il fallait que le Fils de l'homme souffre beaucoup, qu'il soit rejeté par les anciens, par les principaux sacrificateurs et par les scribes, qu'il soit mis à mort, et qu'il ressuscite trois jours après.