Following Jesus Will Cost Your Life
April 12
The title of this devotional was almost, “Following Jesus Can Cost Your Life.” As I typed it, I freshly realized the point Jesus was making once more: It’s not that following can cost us our lives. It will. It always does. In fact, we talked about this just a few days ago on April 6.
In Luke 5, we saw that to follow Jesus we must leave everything: our agendas, plans, desires, wishes—in short, we must abandon our will. As we do, though, Jesus reveals more of Himself to us. In that place of obedience, we then learn more of who He has created and called us to be. What an exchange!
Here, in Luke 9:23, Jesus puts it this way: If you want to follow Me, you must take up your cross. This is yet another verse frequently quoted out of context. Some people will list any number of things as “the cross they must bear.” However, the context of Jesus’ statement leaves no doubt that He is simply reiterating that, if we want to follow Him, we must leave everything.
Pressing further, though, the Lord doesn’t just say that we must take up our cross. He adds daily. Leaving everything isn’t a once-for-all-time action. Every single day we must choose to leave those agendas, plans, desires, and wishes—everything that is about us and not Him—at the foot of His cross. This is taking up our cross daily.
In our March 29 devotional, we noted, “Crucifixion was a savage and barbaric method of executing criminals. By the time of Jesus, the Romans had refined the practice into a highly skilled art and science. They knew how to bring about the most excruciating death possible—a death that could last for days.” Even as crucifixion could last for days, bearing our own cross daily will last a lifetime. It’s important to remember, though, that no one took Jesus’ life: He laid it down voluntarily. (John 10:18) Even so, we must voluntarily lay down our lives each day.
Completing this theme and the chapter now, Jesus tells His disciples, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) The only way to properly plow a field was eyes front. Cutting a furrow for planting, irrigation, etc., required a straight line. To become distracted and begin looking to the left or right instantly marred the work.
That’s Jesus’ warning about unyielded agendas, dreams, wishes, and desires: They will distract us from properly plowing God’s field, sharing the Great Commission, and completing the other good works that He “prepared ahead of time for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) They sabotage the Christian life!
Still, a greater warning looms in Christ’s words: To look back over one’s shoulder symbolized doubt or regret—doubt at answering God’s call, regret at leaving the world behind to follow Jesus. That person, Jesus said, was/is not fit for His Kingdom. This is a subtle nod to Lot’s wife, but it’s not the last Luke will recount in his gospel. In Luke 17:32, He’ll just come right out and finally say it.
As Lot and his family were being evacuated by angels from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s wife longingly looked back to her hometown. (Genesis 19:26) But she didn’t just glance over her shoulder: Her heart was still there in that wicked city, and for that act of rebellion, the Lord turned her into a pillar of salt—a forever warning that what we refuse to surrender to the Lord will not only distract us, it will become the very thing that destroys us.
Application
All of Luke 9 is about choosing to follow Jesus, even to the point of death. Following Jesus will cost us our life. If we try to save it, we will lose it. But, if we will lay it down for Him, we will surely find it. (Luke 9:24)
What benefit is it if we gain the whole world, but lose our soul, Jesus asked. (Luke 9:25) The call to leave the world behind us, to die, to abandon all is the heart of the Gospel because it is precisely what Jesus did at the Cross. If we wish to follow Him, we must take our own—yes, daily.
You cannot carry your cross and your comfort at the same time.
© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman