On taking up our crosses

Jim Street blogs about Mt. 16:24-26 and what it means to die to self:

Jesus calls his disciples to a daily death to self. However, dying to self does not imply passivity. Dying to self entails being reborn to Christ. After all, Jesus links dying to self with following Him.

The power to keep on walking, to keep on following, comes to those who are dead and dying.

Whenever transformative change comes we must experience a kind of death. We must overcome our resistance to change (that is, to go on trying to preserve a way of life that has always worked in the past) and let go of our lives. We must die to the old self and open ourselves to being made new.

Amen.