Anointed Kings don’t willingly suffer and die at the hands of inferiors. That is what Peter and the other disciples must have been thinking when Jesus told them, in response to Peter’s acknowledgement of his Kingship, that he must suffer and die. Jesus seems to have discerned that they were thinking something like this because he then went on to tell them that if they wanted to follow him, they would have to die in a certain sense too. We all have a choice between building our own life and living the life that God has built for us. To build a life apart from God is the greatest offense in the universe since it denies God his divine prerogative. We aren’t free to make up our own lives. God has a purpose for us, he knows what is best for us, and we must live that life, not one of our own construction. Jesus had to suffer and die in order to pay for the guilt we incurred by our autonomy. Now that he has cleansed us of guilt, God is able to get his hands on us to lovingly rebuild our lives the way he wants them. The first step, however, is to dismantle the old. This is the sense in which we must be prepared to die in order to follow Christ. If we are to live the kind of life that Jesus is leading us to, we must be willing for the old life to be dismantled. Inasmuch as God is building something into our lives he is also dismantling something else.
What is God dismantling in your life right now?
Read Luke 9:18-36
