In several different areas of my life, I have experienced the truth of the fact that the things that are hardest are often the most rewarding and beneficial experiences. In college, the hardest classes with the most demanding professors are usually the ones in which you learn the most. They are also usually the classes that build the strongest sense of camaraderie among the students. When you’re hiking or camping, the longest and most difficult trails often lead to the most breathtaking scenery, delighting your eyes with remote and expansive vistas that could never be reached by a short, easy trail. Simply put, the best things in life are seldom easy. 

It’s easy to recognize this truth in areas of our life related to education, career, health, and recreation, but let’s not forget that something very similar is also true of our walk with the Lord. It would be a grave mistake to assume that following Jesus should be an easy matter. When you’re in the thick of it this week and it feels like the hardest thing in the world to make that Christ-like decision, speak that Christ-like word, or offer that Christ-like forgiveness, remember that there is growth in the struggle. And remember that a life of self-denial is exactly what our Lord has called us to as his followers. But remember also that you have a soul that is daily becoming either more godly or more ungodly, that there is eternity in the balance, and that just a moment in the presence of God will make all the sufferings in this life be forgotten. Without the motivation that comes from these truths, we will balk at Jesus’ stringent call to discipleship. Listen to what he said to his disciples. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23–24).

Jesus’ program for following him includes three elements. First, you must deny yourself. We naturally tend to regard our own wants and wishes and comfort as the most important values for decision-making in life, but when we become a follower of Jesus, self gets displaced and instead of doing what we want to do, we do what Christ wants us to do. Second, you must take up your cross. God asks everything of us, including potentially our very life. If you wake up every morning and begin your day intent on living your life for God, even if that means dying for him, then the actual inconveniences you will face most days will seem quite small by comparison. Third, you must follow him. Jesus’ teachings and the example of his life become the example we seek to reproduce in our life. None of this will be easy, but God’s blessings for those who deny self, take up the cross, and follow Jesus will make it all so worth it!

Have you ever experienced the awkward situation when someone else thinks that he is your best friend, when in reality you feel like you barely know him? Sometimes asymmetrical relationships form in which one party greatly overestimates the closeness of the relationship. Occasionally, someone will do this in a way that is very inviting and makes it really easy to get to know the other person quickly and build a new friendship, but other times this mismatch in assessment of the relationship tees you up for some awkward moments.

Tragically, many people wrongly assess their relationship with Jesus, never stopping to listen to what he actually said about following him or to discern if they actually have a relationship with Jesus. Others seem to act on the assumption that Jesus will be there for them when they need him, and that the rest of the time he kindly steps out of the way so as not to interfere with their lifestyle and choices. But blindly presuming that we have a relationship with Jesus and treating Jesus as if he is a genie in a bottle is a spiritually fatal mistake. If you have gone through life assuming that you are right with Jesus simply because you were born into a Christian home or because you go to church sometimes and haven’t committed “really bad” sins, then I implore you to listen to Jesus in order to find out what he says about how to be right with him. If God is convicting you that you have treated your relationship with the Lord as something that should benefit your life and cost you nothing, then I implore you to listen to Jesus to find out what he expects us to give up for him. 

Jesus said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:19–21, emphasis added). In another place, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21, emphasis added). Jesus’s haunting warning reminds us that there will be many people who thought that they were best friends with Jesus, when in reality they were strangers to him because they had never listened to his word and pursued God’s will in life. Let these words of Jesus recalibrate your understanding of what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. The only way to have a relationship with Jesus is not on our terms, but on his terms: hear the word of God and do the will of God. Don’t wait until judgement day to find out if you have a relationship with Jesus. Find out today what Jesus says about following him so that you can have a genuine relationship with him and be filled with hope!

Résumés are funny things, aren’t they? Sometimes a résumé can just feel like an excuse to brag about yourself, and even those who don’t outright lie on a résumé may be tempted to embellish things a little bit in their favor. For example, why not describe yourself as a “classic Italian cuisine transporter” even if you are just a pizza delivery guy? (It’s absurd, but I’ve heard about someone that put that on his résumé!) Some people spend a whole career chasing accolades for their résumé, only to realize too late that they put way too much value and identity in their résumé and that life has passed them by. As tragic as that is, it’s even more tragic to put our trust in our spiritual résumé, thinking that God will somehow be impressed by our goodness or merit. One of Jesus’ encounters with a Roman officer in the gospel of Luke shows us that when we approach our Lord, our trust must not be in our merits, but in his power and goodness.

The interaction took place in the town of Capernaum, a town that was home to a garrison of Roman soldiers whose very presence was detested by many of Jesus’ fellow Jews. A certain Roman centurion sent some elders of the Jews to Jesus to beg him to come heal one of the centurion’s beloved servants. These men chose to make their appeal to Jesus based on the merits of the centurion. “He is worthy to have you do this for him,” they said, “for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue” (Lk. 7:4–5). 

The centurion then sent additional messengers to Jesus with his own words, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am unworthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed… When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith’” (Lk. 7:6–7, 9). The elders appealed to Jesus based on their perception of the centurion’s worthiness, but the centurion himself appealed to Jesus’ power and goodness, demonstrating that he was willing to submit to and trust in Jesus’ authority.

Let me ask you, when you approach our Lord in prayer to ask him for something, on what basis do you make your request? Do you ask him to do things for you because you think you deserve it? Or do you ask him to display his power and authority in your life for his glory, knowing full well that you are unworthy of his grace? We have no merit of our own with which to appeal to God. So when you pray, approach our Lord with both humility and trust, the way this centurion did when he said “Lord, I am unworthy. But say the word…”

We more naturally feel love for those who are our family and for those who love us in return, but does that make us loving people? And if the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself, do we fulfill that command simply by loving those who love us in return? Jesus’ words in Luke 6 clearly show us that much more is required of us if we would love others the way God would have us to love. As Jesus explains in these verses, we are called to practice a higher form of love than just loving those whom it is easy to love. Listen to Jesus’s words in Luke 6, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. (…) If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. (…) But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:27–36).

In contrast to merely loving those who love us in return or those for whom we have some natural familial affection, Jesus challenges us to love in a much more radical way. He challenges us to love not for what we can get in return, but to selflessly love in a way that reflects God’s merciful and gracious character to the world around us. Whether your ‘enemy’ is someone who actively seeks your harm or just someone who goes out of their way to deliberately annoy you at work, we are called to genuinely love and seek the best interests of everyone, even those whom it is hard to love.

Jesus, of course, is the perfect example of this. In his humanity during his earthly ministry, he showed us what it looks like to love our enemies. Even from the cross, he prayed for the forgiveness of the men who were taking his life. Not only did Jesus love those men who were physically crucifying him, but he even loved you and me while we were God’s enemies. Romans 5:10 declares, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Who can possibly follow in Jesus’ footsteps and love in this way? The answer: only those who have known the perfect love of God in Christ Jesus. Only when we have received and experienced his love can we be free to love others—even enemies—like Christ loves us.