What is This Cross Jesus Wants Me To Take?
Then
he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and
take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23 (NIV)
Thomas A Kempis in his book The Imitation of Christ writes “Jesus has many who love his kingdom in
heaven, but few who bear his cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who
desire suffering. He finds many to share his feast, but few his fasting. All
desire to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for his sake. Many
follow Jesus to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of
his passion. Many admire his miracles, but few follow him in the humiliation of
the cross.”
The road that Jesus walked two thousand
years ago was a difficult one, and He tells all who desire to follow Him that
the road ahead of them also will be a difficult road to walk. Jesus’ cross walk
was more than the two thousand feet He walked from Pilate’s house to the
hillside of Golgotha the day He was crucified. Every day of His earthly life,
Jesus walked in the shadow of His cross. He lived each and every day in
faithful obedience to all that His Heavenly Father commanded Him, which meant knowing
hunger, thirst, and temptation. His burden meant being despised, rejected,
misunderstood, and mistreated. For every true disciple living in the shadow of the
cross of Christ, life also will include times of hunger, thirst, and temptation,
times of being despised, rejected, misunderstood, and mistreated.
The Christian life is more than a code of
conduct; to be a Christian is identification with Christ. Doing so includes
carrying your cross and sharing in the sufferings of Christ as you live a life
of sacrifice, submission, and suffering, just as the Savior did. Carrying your
cross begins by saying yes to Jesus and no to
self. Carrying your cross means saying yes to His lordship over your life and
no to self-lordship. Carrying your cross is a daily discipline that must be a
daily priority.
Carrying your cross is more than dealing
with the regular challenges and difficulties that happen in life. For example,
having to deal with heavy traffic every day is not an instance of carrying your
cross. Also, carrying your cross is not found in dealing with the sicknesses
and diseases that may come to pass in life. Carrying your cross can only come
as a result of following Jesus. You bear your cross when you are despised for living
like Jesus, for having a life that looks like Jesus’ life, and for loving
others the way Jesus loved others. When you face difficulties because you are
caught cross walking, then you are bearing your cross.
As we gather today in our respective
churches for Good Friday service let us seek to find our identity in Christ and
not in self. Let us look to glorify God and not to seek our own personal interest.
Let us work to advance His kingdom and not expand our own. Then and only then
will we begin to know how we feel when we pick up our cross and walk as Jesus
did.
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