H. Cosman baptizes Grace Allen on December 25, 1898

Christmas is a time when many people who consider themselves Christians sing carols, exchange blessings with others and maybe even make a rare effort to attend a worship service. They seem to think that it’s an easy thing to follow Jesus. They couldn’t be more wrong!

Jesus certainly never said anything to make us think that following him would be easy. In Luke 9:23-24 we read—“Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’”