If anyone wants to follow me, deny yourself, take your cross every day, and follow me. 24 For everyone who wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will save it for my sake. "
Do we really want to be with Jesus and experience His Presence? He tells us what the price is - we have to take our cross EVERY DAY, and follow it. Although many people interpret this as a call to suffering, and a prophecy of adversity, there is a deeper meaning in all this.
The words of Jesus can imply suffering and adversity, YES! But that is not His sole purpose. Its main purpose is to call us to choose between our own lordship, AND HIS own.
We can not really worship Jesus, and experience His Presence until we deny ourselves. Jesus was very clear when he said that we can not serve two masters. He said it in the context of money, but this truth applies to all our relationships.