Jesus offers each one of us a wonderful invitation to come and receive from Him. We can receive life, forgiveness, hope, freedom and so much more. The invitation of Jesus is, however, so much more than that. It is an invitation to follow Him, to pick up our cross and to lay down our lives before Him. The amazing thing is, that when we do that, then we really start to live.
Mark 8:34-37 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (NIV)