Today’s Scripture:
Luke 9:23-24 NIV
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
There are a lot of challenges being issued today on social media, challenges to do all types of things. There's the ALS ice bucket challenge, the mannequin challenge, the don't drop challenge, and the list goes on; some are even dangerous, like the “Tide pod challenge,” which can be a life or death situation. All of these challenges can be accepted or rejected; they have challenges for good cause, and some are not so good or even can be fatal. Yet, they are received by so many and conversely rejected by some.
The challenge Jesus issued here is one of self-denial, sacrifice, and obedience. This challenge is life-changing; his challenge is to bring us eternal life. If we accept his challenge, it means we must die to ourselves. We must die to our desires; we must die to pleasures and follow him. This is life's hardest challenge.
The rate of acceptance is low. We are not rushing to accept this challenge. It means that our flesh and our notoriety will die. It's a hard challenge, probably the hardest one for humans to accept. Yet, Jesus accepted this challenge for us. How did he accept it when he was the one giving it?
There was a challenge issued by the Father in Heaven; the situation was grave; we were on life support, death row, and to redeem us and bring us back to life. God would need a man, but not just any man; it would be a man who would deny himself, take up his cross, and follow him.
He would not find such a man, so he himself decided that we were worth it, so he dethroned himself in the form of man, out on flesh, and accepted the challenge. Jesus accepted the challenge to come and save a dying world. Jesus was the God-man. He is the place where humanity and divinity became one. The protoevangelium, which is a term I learned in Bible college, refers to Genesis 3:15 NIV.
This is where God in the garden gave man an out and the upper hand against Satan. It's man's ultimate triumph over sin through a coming Savior. This is used as the first anticipation of the gospel. It's the gospel truth that gave us salvation and redemption. In essence, this is where the challenge was issued and accepted. Jesus would come into the world and redeem us.
This was our divine escape! Challenge Accepted. We, too, must accept the challenge to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus; our lives depend on it. The challenge is given, but if we don't accept the finished work of Christ on the cross, we will end up in eternal death. Will you accept the challenge today?
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