Daily

And Jesus said to everyone, "All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23 CEB

Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes...the Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved." Acts 2:46,47 CEB

I've always been intrigued with the great addition provided by Luke when he adds "daily" to Jesus' call to take up the cross and follow him. It's the one and only difference with Mark or Matthew in this section they all share. 

It suggests that discipleship can only be daily if it's anything. It's regularly "saying no," (CEB); no to the ever constant ego demands for comfort, convenience and certainty.

Cross-taking can still put our lives very much at risk in the wrong part of the world. But while it can still mean martyrdom, doing it daily means something a little different. It now becomes more about my saying no to the incessant demands of the false self, including what the dashboards of success say I should be and do. 

To say no requires choosing regular practices. Thanks to Luke's second book, the Acts of the Apostles, daily practices are described: meeting as God's people, breaking bread together, and making space. The reality is that to maintain these practices daily requires faith - the kind of that allows us to let go of what is of lesser importance.