January 5
Verse of the Day for January 5
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.Luke 9:23 KJV
The Key of Beginnings · Day 5 of 31
Reflection · 3 min read
Daily Was The Word He Chose
This verse is usually read as the hard one — deny yourself, take up your cross. It is hard. But the hardest word in it is the smallest.
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Daily. Luke is the only gospel that includes it, and it changes the scale of the whole sentence.
A cross taken up once is a moment of drama. A cross taken up daily is a routine, and routines are made of ordinary Tuesdays, not of moments.
It also means the thing is repeatable. If it were once, missing it would be final. Daily implies tomorrow, which implies that today's failure is not the end of the arrangement.
There is mercy hidden in that word as well as weight. He is describing something you will have to do again, which is also something you get to do again.
Once would be a moment.Daily is a life.
Nobody follows Christ heroically for thirty years. They follow him on a Tuesday, and then on a Wednesday.
If you missed yesterday, the word daily has already made room for that.
Carry this today
Are you trying to be faithful for a year or for a day?
Pray
Read Luke 9:23–26
23And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.
Keep praying
Reflection by Collins Asein, from the daily devotionals in the PrayerKey app. Bible text: King James Version.