Has Following Jesus Become too Routine? How will I walk with Jesus today?

Walking with Jesus

Has Following Jesus Become Too Routine?

Pastor Calvin Cook

August 24, 2026 – Day 30 of 40

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” — Luke 9:23

This scripture from this weekends preaching is still lingering with me this morning. Just sitting quietly with God this morning has caused me to pause and ask if my walk with Jesus has become to routine.  I certainly realize that walking with Jesus requires developing certain disciplines. We pray. We read Scripture. We attend worship. We serve others. We make time to be still before God.  These practices are important. They help keep our hearts and minds focused on Jesus. But this morning, I found myself considering a difficult question:

Has my walk with Jesus become too routine?

Do we get to use to the way things are that we miss the new thing God is desiring to do in our lives today, right now.

There is also a difference between being consistent and simply going through the motions. Consistency keeps us connected to Jesus. Routine can leave us doing the right things without remembering why we are doing them.

We can read the Bible without allowing it to read us. We can pray familiar words without truly opening our hearts. We can sing hymns and worship songs while thinking about what we need to do later. We can attend church, serve on committees, and participate in ministry while slowly losing the wonder of being in the presence of Jesus.

The routine may still be there, but the relationship begins to grow distant.

Perhaps this is why Jesus said that anyone who desires to follow Him must deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Him. The word daily speaks of consistency, but taking up our cross speaks of surrender.

Taking up our cross does not simply mean enduring every inconvenience or difficulty that comes into our lives. The cross is not just something unpleasant that happens to us. It represents something we willingly carry because we have chosen to follow Jesus.

Every day, we must make a fresh decision: I will surrender my plans. I will put down my pride. I will obey even when obedience costs me something. I will follow Jesus even when the road becomes difficult. I will allow my old desires to die so that Christ can live through me.

This becomes the difference between routine religion and genuine relationship that leads to discipleship. Routine asks, “What am I supposed to do today?” Discipleship asks, “Jesus, what must I surrender today so I can follow You?”

We may pray at the same time, read from the same Bible, sit in the same chair, and attend the same church each week. Those routines can be good. But every day, the cross calls us to a new place of surrender. Today right now we all have something new to surrender so that we can be move closer to Jesus and to the way of Jesus. Maybe a teaching of Jesus that we have been struggling to accept.

Jesus did not invite His disciples to follow a schedule. He invited them to follow Him. Following Jesus meant listening for His voice, trusting Him when the road was uncertain, and allowing Him to interrupt their plans. Some days He led them into crowded villages. Other days He took them across stormy waters. Sometimes He called them to serve, and sometimes He called them away to rest.

Their walk with Jesus was anything but predictable.

Perhaps the question is not only, “Has walking with Jesus become too routine?”

Perhaps we must also ask: “Am I still taking up my cross, or have I arranged my walk with Jesus so that it no longer costs me anything?”

Keep praying. Keep reading Scripture. Keep worshiping. Keep serving. But do not lose the wonder. Do not stop expecting Jesus to speak, lead, correct, and transform you.

A crossless walk may be comfortable, familiar, and religious—but it is not the walk Jesus described. The cross keeps our walk from becoming merely routine because surrender must be renewed every day.

Prayer:

Jesus, forgive me for the times I have gone through the motions without completely giving You my heart. Awaken me again to the wonder of Your presence. Show me what I need to surrender today. Give me the courage to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow wherever You lead. Keep my walk faithful, personal, surrendered, and alive. Amen.