Forget Yourself

By Mark Berggren

My father and I used to take yearly Summer trips to the prairies of South Dakota. We would hunt, we would spend time with friends and family, but mostly we’d just enjoy terrain that was so different from what we had come to know living in central Kentucky.

I’ve appreciated the trips more and more as I’ve gotten older, but even in my youth I knew these were treasured times. Like a river current that passes quickly by, those moments flew. They were gone before I could fully comprehend their importance and impact on my upbringing. It was a joy to simply get away from the routine of home and school, immersing ourselves in someplace new. New towns, new rolling grasslands, and new people.

Something happens to us when we’re in new surroundings. We’re forced to observe what’s different here. When we do, we end up forgetting the things that occupied or worried us even only a few days prior. Who among us would go to the Grand Canyon and not look out? Who would stand at the top of the Alps and not look down? Who would camp beneath a starlit night and not look up? God’s creation has a way of demanding that we observe it, and when we do we receive the all-important blessing of forgetting ourselves.

In 2015, a study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that people who simply looked at a photo of nature for only 40 seconds had improved focus and performance in their next task. Isn’t that amazing? Just seeing a picture of a beautiful place transports our mind to that location and, in turn, rests our attention on that image. Even without actually being there, the image causes us to stop what we’re doing and stand in awe.

WHAT HE WANTS, NOT WHAT WE WANT

In Luke 9, Jesus is talking to a crowd of people. As He does so, He describes some of the most important aspects of what it means to be a follower of Christ. Basically, He’s telling them how to live out the Christian walk. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Luke 9:23 ESV)

The Greek word for “ deny” that Jesus uses in this verse is a very strong word. It’s so strong it almost means someone has to forget they exist! Ultimately Jesus is saying, in order to truly follow Him, we have to forget about ourselves. We have to place the majority of our attention on Him. We have to fight our tendency to make life all about what we want and orient it around what He wants for our lives. The first step in being a follower of Christ is that we have to forget ourselves. In a way, forgetting is the first step to a life shaped by the cross.

But, isn’t Jesus being harsh and impersonal when He tells us to deny ourselves?

The truth is, He’s actually telling us the most loving thing someone could say. We find our greatest satisfaction in focusing less on ourselves and more on God and His Word. As John the Baptist said regarding Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30 ESV)

THERE’S FREEDOM HERE

Adding to this, the second thing Jesus says in Luke 9:23 (ESV) is that a person must “take up his cross.” When He had spoken this to the crowd, they must have been startled. In the ancient world, the cross was an instrument of torture, shame, and death. For Jesus to tell these people to carry their own cross must have been the complete opposite of what they thought following Him would be like! What does Jesus mean here?

To carry our cross is to make such a strong commitment to Christ that, even in the face of rejection or death itself, we will never stop following Him. It means every Christian should be willing to lose everything—even our own lives—to gain the better, fuller life Jesus has for us now and forever in His presence.

May this be a year where we forget ourselves and follow the One who carried His cross to Calvary for our sakes. Jesus died that we might have life in Him, carrying our cross with His strength, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).