Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:27
This passage reminds me of a book I read recently called "Kisses from Katie" by Katie J. Davis. Katie is a young woman who gave up many things including the comfort of living in an upper middle-class suburb of Nashville, being with her family and friends, going to college and the love of her life for living in poverty in Uganda ministering to the sick, teaching children and feeding the poor. By the age of 22 she is the adoptive mother of 14 young girls. She felt God's voice calling her and was willing to take up her cross and surrender to Him. In her book, she discusses the difficulty of the choices she had to make and the things that she had to give up but chose to "value His plan, His calling and His love over everything else." She does not believe that everyone should drop everything and go far away from everything familiar but she does believe that every day we have a choice to either stay in our comfort zone or be willing to take a risk and do something to help someone else, put a smile on someone's face and make a difference in someone else's life.
Commitment to Christ means bearing our cross daily. It means giving up our hopes, dreams and desires, our possessions and following His plan. Only then can we be called His disciple. The reward will be certainly greater than the cost.
Cindy Carrier
