Luke 9:23-24
My favorite not-really-holidays every year are on March 14 and May 4. We just celebrated “May the Fourth Be with You” on Sunday. I had completely forgotten about the holiday until Monday when I realized I was acting more like a Storm Trooper and missed the holiday altogether. March 14th (3/14) is Pi Day, I missed that one too. There are requirements for these holidays that I missed this year.
On Pi Day, we must eat Pi(e). On “May the Fourth,” we must watch Episode 4, 5, or 6 of Star Wars and practice our Lightsabre work with pool noodles. These are the traditions that we must uphold to actively celebrate the holidays. Since I missed “May the Fourth” I must now celebrate “Revenge of the Sixth” and watch Episode 1, 2, or 3; I am not looking forward to celebrating this evening.
These not-really-holidays are things that my family has done together with friends and family to celebrate the beginning of Spring. During warm Springs the movies would be shown in my backyard late at night with a fire going and the kids would fall asleep on blankets. Now that they are older their love for the movies and following that tradition has waned, even if my passion has continued.
Why do I talk about these traditions of my not-really-holidays? Because my kids only celebrate when they remember the holiday. The same thing happens in our everyday life as well. Our kids need to learn why we go to church, worship, study and pray; we need to teach them why. We need to encourage one another in our faith by sharing our why with each other.
Share how and why you read your bible, why you pray, why you worship, why you fellowship, why you study… The list goes on and on, but the why is our testimony to God’s work in our lives.
Why do we need to take up our cross and follow Jesus? Because He as called us to follow after Him. Luke 9:23-24 Jesus tells us what we must do to follow after Him
23 And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.24 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
Dear friends, take up your cross faithfully each day, continue in your relationship with Christ and share your how and why you are following after Him.
What has God done in the good times and hard times? How has He proven Himself to you? How is God drawing you deeper into relationship with Him? These are the things we need to share with each other as part of taking up our cross and following Jesus. We share the work of God in every area of our lives for His glory and the good of other believers to know that God is at work.