Devotional
The Cost of Following Jesus and True Self-Denial
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
Apr 27, 2026By Paulson Pulikottil
Every person condemned to be crucified is made to carry the wooden beam of the cross to the site of execution. That is the first condition to follow Jesus—take your own cross.
Following Jesus is costly; it involves total disowning of everything and even oneself. The condemned to be crucified loses all privileges, even the right to appeal his conviction. That person is treated as an object rather than a person. If he owned anything—house, land, wife, children or anything else, everything becomes state property. He does not even own the dress he wore (John 19:23—24). His lifeless body will be thrown into the city’s trash heap to be devoured by animals. But Jesus body was claimed by the highly influential Joseph of Arimathea, so he received a noble burial.
That is the depth of denial, the primary condition to follow Jesus, living owning nothing.
We cling to our lives, our ambitions, and our relationships. Jesus demands that to follow him, we should give up all our claims of ownership.
The only reason to follow Jesus must be him, nothing else. Without any questions or wanting any explanations, as early disciples exemplified.
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:18-19). Peter walked into an open future, where everything was unpredictable, until he was crucified head-down by Nero.
The demand is high; we can only ask for grace to live denying ourselves, claiming no ownership of the things we enjoy, and being fully abandoned to him.