Our Lord says, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 8.34) This simple statement requires us to consider two questions. Where is Christ going that He wants us to follow Him and do we in fact desire to follow Him there? We cannot answer the second without understanding the first. Some may think Christ is speaking literally since He was known to travel from city to city and spend time in villages and on the seashore teaching. Yet if we dig a bit deeper into the Gospel we discover the answer: “Assuredly, I say to you, that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” (Mark 9.1)
If we understand that Christ is on His way to be with His Father then the question is: Do we want to follow Him there? God has blessed humanity with freedom: the freedom to follow Him or to deny Him. He doesn’t force us into submission but calls us lovingly like a father calls his children. “Please, come and be blessed,” and as any parent knows, if a child doesn’t want to follow there’s no forcing him. God gives each of us the same choice today.
If we desire to follow Christ to Heaven then we will willingly give up our loyalty to earthly passions in exchange for heavenly. This will not be an easy task since the devil will never stop trying to convince us that following God is for “those religious types who don’t know any better.” We will suffer for Christ, maybe not physically, but sometimes being humiliated by our neighbors can be more painful than being cut by a knife. Saint Paul says is best: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8.18)
Come on! Let’s go follow Christ to heaven together, as a Church and see the Power of God.
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