Take Up The Cross
In a sense we are not saved by just one cross, but by two — Christ’s cross and our own. There is an intimate connection between the two. It is an error to associate the cross with the moving experience of salvation and then think we can go from there and leave the cross behind. On the contrary, that is when we take up the cross.
Too often we are like Peter, who protested based upon his human nature when Jesus began to teach the disciples that the Son of man must suffer many things.
21From that time forth Jesus began [clearly] to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised from death.
22Then Peter took Him aside to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to You!
Jesus’ startling rebuke to Peter is an eye-opener and lesson for us. Jesus flat out told Peter and the others present that the suffering and dying He was to go through was not only true for Himself, but was true for everyone who follows Him and wants to be His disciple. Moreover, Jesus told them that those who choose to be his disciples must reject their selfish ambitions, give of themselves and take up their crosses and follow Him in order to obtain eternal life.
23But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.
24Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].
25For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].
Essentially this means that every serious Christian must find the shape of the cross for his or her specific life. This is a very important principle for successful Christian living because it is only by taking up our personal cross that we acquire the spiritual backbone and stamina to withstand the currents of evil that tend to overwhelm and pummel us daily.
In summary, if we try to keep our lives for ourselves, we can lose it. However, if we submit ourselves and our ambitions to the Lord for His sake and the Gospel’s, we can find true life. In other words, we need to take up our cross daily and submit our will to God’s will for our lives.
God Bless!
“Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible”
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