Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
Matthew 16:24-25

Lent is the journey of following after Christ. As the fisherman left their nets to follow him, so our fasting is leaving behind our comfort, what we’re used to, to follow after him. Yet his journey was one of death. In the same way, our journey with him is an abandonment of ourselves, dying to our desires for a comfortable life that keeps God merely as our co-pilot. Rather our journey with him, while it is filled with joy and hope, is one that is “cruciform” or shaped like the cross. The remainder of these devotions explore what it looks like to live life on the journey.

Taking up our cross feels offensive to us. At the very least, we want to define for ourselves what the cost is going to be. But it is not for us to decide what’s permissible and what’s not. Jesus’ call is the invitation to enter into a kind of death of self, giving up all the dreams and all the expectations that we have of life where we are the rulers of our little kingdom. It is a call to repent and surrender. Can you honestly lay down yourself in this manner? Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die” (The Cost of Discipleship).

Father, the life you call me to is shaped like a cross. I know deep in my heart that I keep you at a distance and choose what is comfortable or what I think I can handle. The cruciform life feels overwhelming because you tell me there is weight and hardship I must bear, but even that is grace from you because it connects me to the One who bore the true weight of my sin on a cross.