How are we seriously ever able to take up the cross? Jesus calls us to do so in Luke 9:23. We are told that taking up the cross means giving up everything to follow Christ, being willing to sacrifice and suffer for His sake. Is this a mandate too high for anyone to reach? I believe God everytime God gives us a command, he also gives us the power and ability to accomplish this command. Many of us read the verse in Luke 9:23 and kind of sigh resignly to the seeming impossibility of the command. Yet if we were to simply read on to the verses that follow, we will discover an incredible truth about how we can obtain this ability to fulfill the command.
Following the command, Jesus takes about two different realities. The first, the reality the physical world of earth. Jesus says of this world that whoever tries to find his life in this world will lose it (vs 24). And even if a man can gain the whole world, there is no eternal profit if he were to lose his soul (vs 25). Jesus here speaks against two of the most important goals every human being aspires to. The goals of actualisation - ie finding your true self and reaching your human potential, and acquisition - ie. obtaining material abundance. If we are seeking these two things in the physical world, this is foolishness and will come to naught at the end.
In contrast to the first reality of the physical world is the second reality the world of the Kingdom of God, of God and His Angels, of the spiritual dimension, of heaven and hell, and of eternity. Though unseen for the most part to the average human, to Christ, this was the greater reality. For Hebrews 11:3 tells us that the spiritual world preceded the physical world. In this reality, the rules are different. It is not so much how much material acquisitions or worldly status you acquire that matters, it is whether you have loved God. known God and fulfilled His calling on your life that matters. To those who are ashamed of Christ, Christ will be ashamed of him when he comes in glory and with His angels (Luke 9:26). This is the reality of the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:27). And this is the reality that matters for eternity.
The Apostle Luke then goes on to give the account of the transfiguration of Christ. Eight days later, Jesus goes up to the mountain to pray and is transfigured. His face and his clothes shown with glorious light. And Moses and Elijah appeared with Him and discussed His upcoming death. As I pondered upon why the Spirit had chosen it fit to tell us of the transfiguration immediately after the preceding verses, it soon dawned on me. The transfiguration is a graphic representation of the second and greater reality. The story of the transfiguration tells us that this greater reality in fact co-exists and lies beneath our present physical reality, from time to time breaking through the veneer of covering into the physical reality. It is a reality that though we cannot see through our earthly eyes, we can see through the eyes of faith and by revelation of the Spirit.
The appreciation of this greater spiritual reality of the Kingdom of God is crucial if we are to be able to carry our cross. For we can only give up this present physical reality if we see through the eyes of faith the greater and eternal reality of God and His kingdom. That is why we are told to set our minds not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor 4:18). Our liberation from earth only begins when we can see heaven. Let us pray therefore that the Spirit will give us eyes that we may see this greater reality. For it is only when we are rooted in the greater reality of God that we are able to transcend this present reality, to take up the cross and follow Him. For he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose (Jim Elliot).