We Left Everything

“Then He said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’” Luke 9:23 (NIV)

What does this scripture mean to you? What does it mean to deny yourself? To take up your cross? And to follow Christ?

As I was emptying my patient’s foley catheter bag during one of my shifts a few weeks ago, my coworker came up to me and said, “I have a question. In the book of Luke, it says to carry your cross. What does that mean?”

Dear Christian, please take a moment with me here – what does it mean to carry your cross?

I responded to my coworker and friend as able throughout the rest of my shift and as led by the Lord, but before our spotty conversation came to an end that day, I knew that God had more. That simple, yet foundational question began a stirring in my soul. The next morning, as I jumped into my quiet time, God redirected me from my current study in the old testament straight to Luke 9:23. 

I spent time sitting with the Lord with the very questions that I presented above as God broke the scripture down before me. I spent time looking at how Christ presented these words to the disciples and the context in which this bold statement was made. I soaked in that these were not just three independent instructions, but a specific process for the believer. God showed me that denying oneself, taking up a cross, and following Jesus weren’t just general guidelines to the people, but personal, daily guidelines to draw us, each of us, nearer to Jesus Christ. 

God continued to work this scripture through my heart as I listened to the commentary of David Guzik on the Enduring Word podcast. Among many things, David pointed out that in the context of time these men would have never made the choice to take up a cross. Taking up a cross in that time led down a one-way street and that street led to death; it always led to death. Because of that, the cross was never taken up by choice, but was always forced upon the one destined for death. Yet here Jesus stood and said, “I want you to make the choice to take up your cross.” 

Could you imagine how shocking this would have been to the disciples at that time? Could you imagine being told to choose death? To make the choice to take up your cross? I want to challenge you to put that in the context of today. What if Jesus told you to jump off of a 1,000-foot cliff without any gear to protect you from the fall? What would you be thinking?

As David pointed out in his podcast, Jesus provided some insight to ‘the why’ as He continued on into verse 24. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it” (NIV). 

If we want to find life, we must follow Jesus and to truly follow Jesus, we must too take up our cross. As David put it, “You will never live until you walk to your death with Jesus.” 

As I write this today, I am reminded of Philippians 3:10-11 when Paul says, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” I wonder, how can we know the resurrection power of Christ if we don’t first walk with Him to our death by taking up the cross? And it is only in a hope rooted in eternity that we can confidently and boldly make the choice to personally take up our cross and to walk to our death with Jesus, leaving our old self behind and walking forth in the resurrection power of Christ. Without a hope in eternity, there is no reason to pick up your cross – you might as well just leave it lay. 

A few days after this deep dive study of Luke 9:23, stretching beyond what I have put into words here, God continued in His teaching to me as He often does. 

This particular day, I was woken up by a phone call from one of our nursing leaders at six-thirty in the morning telling me that I was needed to work that day starting at seven. Having been placed “on-call” for that shift and never having been called in for an “on-call” shift on the ship, I hadn’t bothered setting an alarm that morning and I may have stayed up just a little bit later than I would have on a work night. 

As much as my tired eyes wanted to go back to sleep, I knew that it was not only my nursing leader calling me into the ward that morning, but God was waking me up to say, “This is where I would have you to be today.” Even as I made my way out of the top bunk and began to gain my bearing on date and time, I realized that I would be missing our outdoor Sunday church service, but once again it was as though God was saying, “Trust me. I know what you need.”

Little did I know that it was to continue in my learning of what it meant to take up my cross. 

A few hours later I sat on the floor in the back of the room where our patients, crew, and hospital chaplaincy gathered for the ward church service. The message that day came from the story of Abraham, including God’s promise of the nations and the journey that Abraham set out on in obedience to the Lord as told in Genesis 12. The chaplaincy team walked us through the passage, offering opportunities for people to chip in thoughts and application points throughout the story. 

At one point in time, one of our patient’s husband raised his hand to speak. Though I do not remember every word that he said verbatim, I vividly recall this statement; “It took a lot to come here. We left our home. I quit my job. We left everything to come here hoping that we could get help.” Moments later, another woman chimed in. “I didn’t know what to expect in coming. I heard about the ship and I came in hopes of receiving medical help, but this ship has met all of my needs. They have provided food, a place to sleep, and this medical care. Everything I needed has been provided.”

These statements are still ringing in my ears today, but in that moment, God drew my mind to the cross of Christ and the study that He had been leading me in from Luke 9:23. He took me back to that question that my coworker had asked; what does it mean to carry your cross? 

I had considered the fact that many of our patients travel great lengths to come to the ship. I had realized that there was an in-depth screening process that takes place before a patient is given clearance for surgery and eventually admitted to the hospital. I knew that it required a long time commitment for the patient and the caregiver to go through this process from beginning to end. But I had never considered that they had left everything behind, including something as permanent and essential as work…and they left it all with a HOPE in receiving care. Not even a guarantee for surgery, nor in a once and for all cure of their condition… simply a hope in what could be. 

And then in streamed my patient’s voice, “Everything I needed has been provided.” These patients have followed a hope in receiving care, some having never even been on a ship or in a hospital in their lives. They just heard that there could be a chance for medical intervention on the ship and that they should “give it a try”. After a screening process in their individual villages, they were given a green light to make their way to the port for more screening, these particular patients then being admitted for their surgeries. With no idea what to expect medically, you can imagine that they also didn’t know what to expect in the meeting of their other needs, like food and housing. Yet here they were – every need having been fully met. 

Is this not what it looks like to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ? 

Just as these patients and their caregivers have done, are we not to walk away from our old selves and the life that we once knew? Are we not to step out in faith towards a hope in something better? And just as every need has been met for our patients and our caregivers, does Jesus not promise to give us “all these things” when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness? 

The very next morning, God met me face to face with Matthew 6:25-34. I know that it is a bit lengthy of a passage, but I want to invite you to just spend some time with this passage in God’s Word with me. 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (NIV).

So dear Christian, I ask you again… what does it mean to carry your cross? 

My hope for you today is that God will meet you with an answer to this question. I pray that He will reveal to you what it means to carry your cross, not just yesterday, not just today, but with every new day that you are granted here on earth… and that He will make it personal. Just as I mentioned earlier, denying oneself, taking up the cross, and following Christ are not general instructions. They are personal, daily guidelines to draw us nearer to our Creator with every step that we take. 

The same God who worries about providing food for the birds and clothing for the grass of the field cares about you too. In fact, He cares about you so much that not only does He invite you to walk with Him to the cross day after day, but in that He promises that every need will be met, and abundantly so.

What could be better than that? 

Jesus has an answer for that too. My patient’s journey to this ship is in hope that their needs will be met and that they will receive treatment for their medical condition. There is no guarantee in any of that. But Christ. He invites us to pick up our cross and walk towards Him with a hope rooted in eternity spent with Him; a hope with a guarantee in life-everlasting before the Lord our God. A journey with a promised cure waiting for each of His children at the finish line. 

Would you join me today in abiding in these guidelines? Deny yourself. Make the choice to take up your cross. Follow Christ in whatever way He leads. And when you wake up tomorrow morning, I invite you to do it all over again and again and again.  

With love, 

Your sister in Christ