Meet David Kjeldgaard

Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God." (Luke 9:20)   

I knew the answer to that question at a very young age, but my actions revealed that I didn't believe it was true. Just over five years ago, I was questioning what I really believed. I went to the Young Adult Launch Retreat, and while I was there, I read this passage, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." (Luke 9:23-24, NIV) I couldn't shake it from my mind because I was trying to save my life. I was living for the world, and Scripture made it very clear that those choices result in death. And while I didn't fully understand what it meant to "take up my cross daily," I can tell you I wasn't denying myself anything, and so it was clear for the first time that I was not following Jesus.

As this reality set in, I remember wondering what I would have to give up from my current lifestyle to truly follow Christ. The answer was God wanted everything—my entire life. The ironic thing about it was that the decision I feared would steal my fun has resulted in absolute freedom—freedom to love the Lord with the time I have on this earth, knowing that I'm going to spend eternity with our Father in Heaven.    

While I made the decision that day to "lose" my life for Christ, every once in a while that familiar feeling comes back when I realize that I'm not surrendering a certain aspect of my life. It's one thing to commit your life to Christ verbally, but it's another to serve Him with everything all of the time. I have to ask myself continually, "What area of my life am I holding onto rather than 'losing' for the Lord?"