Following Jesus can be hard. I am not here to tell you that following Jesus will ever be easy. But following Jesus is worth it. Honestly, Jesus puts it best when he said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it" (Luke 9: 23-24 ESV).

So immediately your are probably thinking: alright but why would I go after Jesus? Like why is it worth it? He literally tells me to deny myself and take up my cross – whatever that is supposed to mean.

First, that is a fair thought that should be addressed. Why Jesus? Why is He actually worth your time? Why is He actually worth my time?

Well, to put it simply Jesus got up on a cross and died so that one day we'd be able to walk into a life forever where all the bad in this world does not exist. Into a place that we truly are not able to fathom because of the goodness, because of the immeasurable love, because of the everlasting peace, because we will finally be able to see our sweet Creator; it is all of ours if we choose to follow Jesus.

Following Jesus is actually worth our time, worth our consideration because we were made for it. You and I were made for a life eternal.

Now, this is where it gets tricky. I need to be clear on two things:

1. Following Jesus, the things we do when we follow Jesus does not in any way make us better or perfect human beings. Following Jesus does not in any way make us better or perfect human beings. I will repeat this statement because it is so important. The things we do when we follow Jesus does not in any way make us better or perfect human beings. Following Jesus does not in any way make us better or perfect human beings.

2. You don't earn a life eternal. Clive puts it best by saying: "Everything is here for the asking and nothing can be bought." Eternal life comes down to us asking Jesus to come into us and our life, and because you did Jesus literally gives it to us. There is nothing we can do.

Okay, so far we know this: following Jesus in the twenty-first century is not easy, but it is worth it. That Jesus even tells us that to follow him we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily.

Let's work through what we know in the context of being a person living day to day life in the twenty-first century.

To follow Jesus we have to deny ourselves.

What does that look like to deny ourselves? We are to acknowledge that we are all sinners. That we were actually born with sin. That sin manifests into thoughts, actions, and our relationships. And that because sin is in every person, it is everywhere. That this world is made up of sin. We have to face the reality of things that are "of the world" are manifestations of our own sin. And that we are called to a life where we have to give up taking part in all of it. The fun sin. The bad sin. The how-can-this-be-considered-a-sin-sin. All of it.

We have to deny ourselves of pleasures like having sex before someone puts a ring on it. We have to deny ourselves of getting hammered every weekend because we like to party. We have to combat lies in our head that we are not good enough.

Yeah, looking at it from the perspective of the twenty-first century, following Jesus sucks.

By doing this whole deny ourselves thing, we are not earning our way to a life eternal. No – by denying ourselves we are given a life we do not deserve here in this world. We are given a life with Jesus – a life with the person who is working within you to give you a life to the full. A life of peace and joy. A life of hardships and doubt. A life that at the end of your days on this earth does not end but only gets better.

Now on to the second part: To follow Jesus we must take up our cross daily.

Now, with this one, you really must be thinking: Sarah, what the hell does that mean? I don't just have a cross laying around in my room to pick up.

Well, taking up your cross simply put is intentionally choosing to follow Jesus every day, no matter what. You choose to follow Jesus which is not just denying yourself; it is also loving people no matter what, it is also believing in grace and believing grace is to abound always; it is also praying to Jesus in thanksgiving, in joy, in sadness, and in need of help; following Jesus is intentionally choosing to live freely on this earth as one of His children and to get to live forever with Him.

We can live in the truth and freedom that Jesus gives us.

I need to explain my heart behind writing this:

I do not deserve the life I get to live. I do not deserve the people I get to do life with. I do not deserve life with Jesus. Every single day, pieces of my sin come out. I think things that aren't truth. I don't always love how I should. I don't always honor people the way I am called to. I don't always serve others in the way Jesus is an example of. Following Jesus is messier than people like to make it seem. As Penny and Sparrow put it: I am here to fluctuate and learn; to serve Him, and to let Him do with me what he will as I continue to learn more of who Jesus is, who He is making me be, and more of His truth in this life.

The reason following Jesus in the twenty-first century is worth it is because it is a life we don't deserve. We will never deserve it, but it is ours. And, I want you to have the chance to live a life like this.