Today, we're pleased to share with you an audio essay written and read by Amy D. Markangelo,

entitled, Help, I don't know if I'm doing enough for Christ.

Amy's new book is Go and Do Likewise, a call to follow Jesus in a life of mercy and mission from Crossway.

Help, I don't know if I'm doing enough for Christ.

Written and read by Amy D. Markangelo.

Following Jesus is costly.

It entails more than being a nice person, going to church on Sunday,

and refraining from foul language. Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life

will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will

find it. The cross was a symbol of death, so to take up a cross means to surrender your very

life to follow Jesus. True discipleship encompasses everything, our affections and ambitions, habits and choices, thoughts and actions,

we can't hold anything back. But there's something important we need to remember,

or else our idea of discipleship will take the form of monk-like self-denial and drudgery.

While Jesus commands us to take up our cross,

he also said he came that we might have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus is a giver, not a taker.

He calls us to die so that we can live,

to empty ourselves so that he can fill us.

Before we wonder whether or not we're doing enough for

Christ, we need to ask a better question. Are we abiding in Christ and finding him enough? Abide before you

act. Jesus came to save us from the penalty for our sins, and the good news doesn't end there. He's not content to be a

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