We live in a world where we are constantly encouraged to pursue a version of success: a better career, more money, a stronger appearance, healthier relationships, greater influence. Our culture often defines success as winning in every area of life. But is that truly attainable? And what is the real cost of chasing that imagined life? At some point, something has to give. Will it be our family life or our work life? Our health or our ambitions? There is a cost to everything. The question is whether we are honest enough to recognize what this pursuit of success is taking from us. So often, we look for the best and easiest path... the way that requires the least sacrifice and inconvenience. We do this because we don’t like to suffer. We avoid pain, discomfort, loss, and sacrifice whenever we can. The words of Jesus call us to discern a better way: not an easier way, but the way we were truly meant to live.
Jesus gives us the map when He says: “
If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus knew that the world’s definition of success would exhaust us. He knew people would wonder whether there was another way—an alternative to this exhausting & rigged system of constantly proving ourselves. And so, Jesus offered the alternative of God’s Kingdom, remember he was living in the Roman Empire that mistreated his own people the Jews. But Jesus' way was not a shortcut around pain. It was a call to face our own suffering & self-denial head-on. And that does not come naturally to us. Jesus first told His disciples that He would undergo great suffering, be rejected, be killed, and then be raised on the 3rd day. The disciples didn’t expect this. In their minds, Jesus was to become a powerful political and military leader who would overthrow Romans. You can almost imagine the disciples's brains buffering... trying to process what they had just heard. Peter could not accept it and rebuke Jesus, saying, “
God forbid it, Lord!” In other words: “
Why would the Messiah have to suffer and die?” Jesus responded with startling force: “
Get behind me, Satan! You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” I wish we would all say that phrase when bad thoughts cloud our minds! But really, how often do our thoughts reflect human concerns rather than the mind of God? If we are honest, it happens every day. That’s why Scripture tells us to take every thought captive. It is easy to set our minds on human things because we are human. But in Christ, we are called into something much higher. Christ, the divine, became human in order to reconcile us to the Father; now we humans are called to be transformed into His divine likeness. It's in this safe environment of Union with the Father through Christ where we are called to dwell.
It's in this space, the church and the people of God that we are to bring our wounds to God. It's in this safe space that we are called to forgive, not because what was done to us was acceptable, but because we trust that God can bring good even from what wounded us. Face your pain rather than allowing pain to rule you. That is part of taking up our cross. The prophet Jeremiah spoke honestly before God: “
Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?” There is room in faith for that kind of honesty. There is room to bring our hurts, confusion, disappointment, and grief before the Lord. And in the midst of our pain, we must breathe & praise God. This is hard for us because we often don't think about God when we are in the midst of our suffering! But praising God in the midst of our pain robs pain of its place in us. Women/mothers can certainly understand this: Doulas often tell women in labor, to “
Breathe.” Breathing does not remove the pain, but it helps a mother endure it and move through it. In a similar way, God says to us in our suffering: “
Breathe, child of God. Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope.
Take up your cross and follow me." My map leads to life!" You see, pain come to humble us, to deepen our dependence on God, and sometimes to expose what must be healed, or to form Christ more fully within us. We must let it accomplish what God intended to use in us. In Christ’s map, that is our cross to carry. Jesus carried His own cross in love to redeem us. Let God renew your mind, heal your wounds, order your priorities, and teach you what true success looks like.
Amen.
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