How To Be Like Jesus

The Cost of iscipleship

There is one way and one way only that we can become like Jesus and that is specified in the Gospel of Luke:

Then he said to all. "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me."

If you have been a Christian for any length of time this is a familiar passage to you.  Luke 9: 23 is a challenge for each of us and is another call for the Christian to be counter-culture.  But what exactly does it mean to take up a cross daily?  It can mean many different things.  

Just being a Christian in this world of ours can be a major cross to be carried.  I think of our brothers and sisters in the East.  The soil of those far away lands have been enriched with the blood of people, Catholics and Protestants, who refused to deny Christ.  The modern martyrs show what the ultimate cost of being a Christian is. If our Lord and Master was killed, can we expect anything less? 

In the United States we do not as yet face the death sentence for being Christian but we do face ridicule for not going along with the beliefs of the majority. This is how we take up our cross and follow along with Jesus.  We must cast away selfishness and replace it with selflessness. Jesus came and even though he is a King and can command us, he chose to come to earth as a slave and to serve us. 

So to serve the Lord is to reject the wisdom of this world in favor of True Wisdom, Wisdom which comes from God.  So to become more like Christ requires us to deny our very selves and carry our cross daily with Him.   But what are these crosses? 

Mother Theresa tells us what these crosses are and that is to do small things with great love.  So I believe we are called to watch for the opportunity to offer comfort to a small child who has fallen. Or to give bread to the hungry or clothes to the naked, or visiting the sick or those in prison.   As Scripture teaches us, what we do for the least we do for Him. 

Remember, I will answer any questions you might have about the Catholic Church or Christianity in general.  Hate mail will not receive a response.   God bless you and keep you and may Christ light the path for you on this day.