Your Cross

Good Morning,

Luke 9:23 (NIV)
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

If you're at all like me you have wondered what this "cross" might be that you should "take up" in following Jesus. I've prayed about this and asked God to reveal to me what it is that I should deny and what cross it is that I should be carrying so that I can be considered to be following Jesus as I walk this earth. I don't doubt that there are many people who have prayed the same or a similar prayer. I also have no doubts that there are many, like me, who have not received a direct answer to their prayer.

You know, here's a few simple thoughts and an ideas that have crossed my mind from time to time about this. What to deny? That one's fairly easy I think. I should deny myself anything that keeps me from God; that keeps me from following Jesus. That might be something as easy as turning off the television in order to talk about the Lord with my wife or a friend. Could be just not going to a movie and visiting someone who's homebound instead. Oh, the denying of self can take many, many guises if we will just give it some thought. Yes, knowing what there is in our lives which ought to be denied is fairly simple. The carrying out of it? Not so much, I'm afraid. But, this denying is really extremely individualistic and all of us need to just take a good, long look and we'll see places in our lives where we would be better off denying self in order to serve God.

Now, the taking up of one's cross to follow Jesus? That's not so simple to recognize. The "cross" that you need to take up could be something that's not even in the ballpark for me. And, vice versa, of course. I've thought about this a lot and asked for guidance in knowing, for sure, what cross I ought to take up for the Lord, as I said earlier. It seems that the more I prayed about it the less clear it became, when I was sure that my prayers would be answered in such a way that would leave no doubt as to what it is I ought to do. Have you felt much the same about this? In some discussions in the past I've found that I'm certainly not alone in wondering what in the world it is I should "take up" in order to be obedient to Jesus.

Okay. Here's the thing. If you'll look at your life, I'm sure that you will find, as I have found, that you are already taking up some cross or other in order to follow Christ. Don't be shy. Take a look. You'll see that there are things you do, maybe not on a regularly scheduled basis, but some things that you do which would be considered, for you, taking up a cross in the name of Jesus. You see, if we do something that takes us out of our comfort zone, something that causes some sort of hardship or inconvenience and makes us really UNcomfortable, that may very well be a "cross" that God has placed in your life for you to take up. You know, it doesn't have to be something that you might consider "major" or "big" that is the cross you need to take up. It could be something as simple as just speaking up about the Lord. Maybe in the line at a grocery store. Perhaps among a small group of your peers at work. It can be anything...large or small...that God puts in front of you and asks you to "take up" in order to be obedient.

Each of us has different things that we need to deny ourselves in our lives. We each encounter various ways in which we can carry the cross put before us.

Like so many things and as I've said so many times, it's the doing that is difficult.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David