Following Jesus is Hard, Man.

"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

Following Jesus means giving up what you want.

Our culture teaches us to put ourselves first. If we want something, then we must strive to achieve it. It tells us that we can be anything we want to be. Our culture tells us that more is good. More money, more houses, more inanimate objects to fill our houses, more promotions at work, more friends. More more more. And we consume. We consume so that we can fill this insatiable hole in our world. Because the more we get, the more we need.

The Gospel teaches us to put God first. If we want something, we must deny ourselves of that and hand it over to God. The Gospel tells us that we can't be anything we want to be, but instead we can be anything we are made to be. When we live our lives trying to be what we want to be we fail to be as complete as we can be because we are not being who we are made to be.

The Gospel challenges our culture because it is a different way of living. A way that is God-reliant, not self-reliant. It is a way to focus on what others need, not what we need. And when we shift our focus to the needs of others, God fulfills all our needs. The Gospel says 'no' to me and 'yes' to us. What we are made to be is found in community; because God originally made us for community. Life should be a journey of discovering who were are in communion with others and with our God.

That's why following Jesus is so controversial to our culture. Our culture doesn't understand that individuality is not the key to saving the world. We spend our lives spending time trying to find the right key to fit. But the truth is, there is only one key that will do the job. The key to saving the world has been given to us in the form of Jesus Christ- but who will use that key?

Follow Jesus. Deny yourself. Change your world.