Take Up Your Cross - Do I Have To?
Luke chapter nine tells the portion of Jesus' life when he asks his disciples who they say he is - 'Who do you say that I am?' They testify that he is the Christ, the anointed one, sent from God in heaven.
Then, Jesus goes on to say he must suffer many things and if they want to follow him, they must 'take up their crosses' and follow him. He goes on to challenge the core of their thinking by telling them that people who want to save their own lives will most certainly lose them, but those who lose their lives because of him will actually save them.
What does this mean to me? To you? Single mom, single dad, betrayed spouse, hurting parent?
Often, when reading this passage, we are led to think of being called to participate in missions overseas or some such sacrificial service to the kingdom of God. We think of denying ourselves when asked to teach Sunday school, or lead youth group, or work in a nursery.
Taking up our cross is frightening talk when we really consider what it means to do so. The cross was a horrid method of death. It was, and is, NOT like the pretty jewelry we wear on our necks or wrists. The haloed imagery of Jesus, with calm face looking down, like we see in many artist renditions of the crucifixion, is also not the truth of its horror.
The cross was not lovely. In fact, the cross is called foolishness to those that are perishing.
I Corinthians 1:18 - The message of the cross is foolishness to them that are being destroyed, but it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved.
Many of God's people, during Jesus' day, thought he was coming to save the world from its troubles and traumas using strength, might, glory, power, and strategic wisdom against those who made them suffer. Instead, God used a cross to save them. A miserable, shameful, tormenting tool which, in the beginning, made it look like God lost. Jesus was gone. But, he rose victorious. He won. And he saved the world by doing so. But, he suffered to do it. Legitimately, this seemed ridiculous to many then and still today.
Jesus did not stand and fight over whether he deserved such torture. He didn't protect himself. He didn't rip and tear away from the hands of those who led him to the rack for the cat of nine tails that would gouge flesh from his rib cage and shoulders and sling blood all about his face and those of onlookers. He entrusted himself to the one who judges righteously and submitted to what looked like ultimate loss.
It is this submission to what looks like loss that I am wondering about today as I consider taking up my cross and following after Jesus.
What if doing this in life today stands in the context of walking in the pain of the betrayals brought to us by the sins of others? or divorce? or lies told to us or about us by folks who can do a great deal of damage with them? or severely disappointed hope?
Is God asking me to take up my cross, accept what has happened, entrust myself to the one who judges righteously in my life, submit to the sovereignly planned events of my life that can come at the hands and choices of others, and let God build my life in him through those things?
I'm having an inkling that applying this scripture to today, without taking it too far out of Biblical context, means just that. God is at work - truly at work - empowering the spirit in me, and you, to trust him, love from his love, give from his mercy, and shed anxiety of this world by the events of our lives that, when yielded to his trustworthy hands, will bring glory to Him. And isn't that the ultimate goal of living on this earth, yet dwelling in his kingdom?
The ultimate gift to us in all our 'crosses' is Christ in us, the hope of glory. This is what is being built in us. When you are willing to take up your cross, carry the pain of it, walk in the anxiety that might come with any given situation, entrust it to God rather than wallow in it without trust, glory in the weakness it brings because the power of Christ rests upon you for handling it - THEN, the wisdom of God rests on you, then, Christ's power and strength are being shown in you, then, Christ is shown in you as the great savior and redeemer and refuge he is for this world.
Commit with me to considering this admonition from Jesus. Take up your cross and follow him. Take up the pain and disappointment in your life - from divorce, betrayal, lies, lost relationships, children making bad choices - and entrust yourself to the one who judges righteously, as Jesus did. Let the power of Christ rest upon you as your let all those things have their perfect work in you.
Praying for you brothers and sisters in Jesus.
