Following Jesus is more than believing differently. It's living differently.
This is your weekly companion to this weekend's message in "The Way" series, made to spend time with all week, not just read once. Bookmark this page or print it off to keep nearby. Each week follows the same rhythm: a recap of the message, the central Scripture and thought, a practice for the week, daily readings, and a prayer.
Recap
Last weekend we began this journey by asking a question that will follow us through the whole series: Who are you becoming? We saw that Christianity was never meant to stop at believing. It's a life of becoming, formed day by day through what we practice.
This weekend, before we get to any of the individual practices ahead, Pastor Jon took us to the foundation underneath all of them. Every practice in the weeks to come (rest, prayer, Scripture, fasting, and more) is shaped by whether we get this one right first.
Central Scripture & Thought
In 1846, the Donner Party left the proven California Trail for an untested shortcut: a "faster route" promoted by a man who'd never actually traveled it, yet trusted by the group. It cost them the weeks they didn't have; winter caught them in the Sierra Nevada, and nearly half didn't survive. Here's the point Pastor Jon made: their tragedy wasn't where they were going. It was who they trusted to get them there. An entire community agreed to follow a persuasive voice.
If life to the full is our destination, Jesus is clear about the starting line, and it isn't the one culture would choose for us. There are no shortcuts to the Way.
Read Luke 9:23–25 (NLT):
"Then he said to the crowd, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your own soul?'"
Jesus gives two instructions here: simple to understand, undeniably difficult to live.
1. Give up your way. Many translations say it even more directly: deny yourself. The Greek word Jesus uses (aparneomai) means to forget oneself, to lose sight of your own interests. Its root, arneomai, means to renounce, disown, refuse association with. It's the very same word used when Peter denied Jesus three times: "I don't know him." Jesus is saying, in effect: that's what I want you to learn to say to yourself.
Notice what Jesus asks us to deny first: not sin, but self. We spend most of our lives saying yes to ourselves; Jesus says learn to tell yourself no, not because you're worthless, but because your flesh isn't a trustworthy guide. Freedom begins when your wants no longer control you.
Let's be clear about what this isn't. It isn't living in misery. It isn't hating yourself. It isn't believing you don't matter. It's simply learning to say: "My desires do not automatically become my directions."
2. Take up His way. When Jesus said "take up your cross," His listeners hadn't seen Calvary yet. They heard Roman execution. To carry a cross meant three things: your rights were surrendered, your life was no longer your own, and your future was in someone else's hands. Jesus never asked us to admire His cross. He asked us to carry ours.
There's a distinction worth sitting with here: denying yourself is private (it happens inside you, often unseen), while taking up your cross is public (for all to see). Self-denial is inward. Cross-carrying is outward. Jesus asks for both.
And here's the upside-down promise inside verse 24: "lose" (apollymi) means to destroy, to render useless; "save" (sōzō) is the Greek word behind our word salvation: to heal, restore, make whole. What Jesus offers is the salvation of our life; we cannot save ourselves. That's why He says: lay it down, give it up, let Me save you, follow Me.
Culture says: whatever makes you happy. Jesus says: deny yourself. Culture says: live your truth. Jesus says: I am the truth. Culture says: live your life. Jesus says: lose your life.
We've all tried, at times, to correct God's upside-down Kingdom: wanting peace without prayer, community without commitment, to be forgiven without forgiving. Like the Donner Party, we want the destination without trusting the way there.
Last week the question was Who are you becoming? This week it's: Who's making that decision?
Practice for the Week
This week's practice is one thing, and it may be the most critical practice of the entire series, because every practice that follows is shaped by whether we get this one right.
Pray this prayer every morning:
"Jesus, today I give up my way. Today I take up Your way."
Set a reminder on your phone or calendar. Then carry it into the moments of your day. Before you spend the money. Before you respond to your spouse. Before you make the decision. Before you post. Before you disciple your kids, send the email, sign the contract, quit, or complain. Pause and pray it again: Give up my way. Take up Yours.
There are no shortcuts to the Way. But there is a starting line, and it's this prayer, prayed honestly, every morning this week.
Daily Scripture & Reflection
Each day, read the passage slowly (your Bible app or Bible Gateway works well), then sit with the question. A journal is a good companion for this if you have one.
- Monday: Luke 9:23–25. Read the anchor passage again, slowly. Which instruction, giving up or taking up, feels harder for you right now?
- Tuesday: 2 Timothy 3:1–5. Paul warns that in the last days, people will be lovers of self above all else. Where do you see that pull toward self-love working in your own heart?
- Wednesday: Galatians 2:20. Paul says the life he now lives is no longer his own. What's one area where "I" is still firmly on the throne?
- Thursday: Philippians 2:3–8. Jesus didn't cling to His rights. What right or preference is God inviting you to release this week?
- Friday: Matthew 26:36–42. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, "not my will, but yours." Pray those words over the hardest decision in front of you right now.
- Saturday: John 12:24–26. A grain of wheat must fall to the ground to bear fruit. What might God want to grow from something you lay down?
Prayer
Father, thank You that Your Kingdom turns everything right-side up, even when it feels upside down to us. Jesus, today I give up my way and take up Yours. Teach me to say no to myself so I can say yes to You, not out of misery, but out of trust that Your way leads to life to the full. Holy Spirit, meet me in the small moments this week: before I spend, before I speak, before I respond. Remind me whose I am. Form me into a follower who can say, honestly, "not my way anymore." In Jesus' name, amen.
