Giving My All for the One Who Gave It All

By Jessica Brodie

Have you ever done something extreme to show you’re all-in for something? I remember a friend in high school so determined to master the guitar he bloodied his fingertips. But me? I often hold back, too scared of the consequences to risk something that could injure me.

Once I did a fitness program that required me to jump as far as I could across the room, even if I stumbled. Not worth it, I told myself. Instead I just did a large hop, content to stay upright rather than push myself too hard and wind up toppling over.

Consistently, I choose the safe option, holding back just enough to keep me out of danger.

Sometimes the safe option is a good thing. But in matters of faith, it’s not always so good.

Today, reading Matthew 16, I find myself reflecting on what it truly means to be a follower of Christ in the way he desires. Following him the way he wants, doing it the right way, is the point here. Jesus doesn’t want me paying lip service to him, or being a halfway, almost-there, lukewarm believer. He doesn’t desire “fair-weather” disciples, those only around for the good times or the miracles.

Indeed, as he tells his followers in Matthew 16:24-27:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done” (NIV).

The crux here is verse 24—to be his disciple, we must do this thing. We must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him.

Sometimes, we look at the term “take up our cross” like it’s a metaphor, and perhaps it is. Jesus often taught through parables and metaphors, his meaning spanning both the simple and the complex simultaneously.

But the original Greek here is airo autos stauros, which translates to “take or pick up one’s stake or cross.”

The word stauros, meaning “stake or cross,” is the same word used to describe what Jesus was nailed to and hung upon when the soldiers crucified him. Indeed, the Bible tells us the soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to carry this cross, or stauros, for Jesus all the way to Golgotha, where Jesus was killed (Matthew 27:32).

So consider this: Perhaps Jesus was being quite literal when he told us we must “take up our cross” in order to be his disciple. Perhaps he was saying in no uncertain terms that being his disciple means we must embrace the instrument of our own death, whatever that looks like. However painful or upsetting or scary this might be. We must go “all in” for him, with no possibility of turning back. No safety net. No Plan B.

Jesus wants our all. And nothing less.

And why not? Jesus gave his all. Willingly, he experienced a brutal, agonizing public execution on our behalf. So why do we think it’s OK to give him our leftovers, or our lukewarm affection, or our halfway commitment? Why do we think it’s OK to be “fair-weather” Christians, only there for the entertaining worship and the feel-good aspects of faith and not the rest?

It’s not.

I’m giving my all for the One who gave it all. I don’t always know what that looks like, or what that will cost me in the short-term. But in the long-term, I know it’s worth it.

Will you join me?

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