“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Matthew 16:24
Ever complain about your cross in life? A Christian once complained to God that his cross was too hard to carry and would prefer to have a different one. God took him to His storehouse of crosses and told him, “You are free to choose whatever cross you like.” The man walked around the vast storehouse and saw many different crosses. There was one that was golden and beautiful, but also very heavy. Another was light, but rugged, and was apt to wound one’s shoulder. He continued looking around the storehouse until he discovered in the corner, a cross, which he thought, would suit him. God granted his request and invited him to examine it more closely.
“Have a better look at it.” God said. The man looked back at the cross he had chosen only to realize it was the cross which he had originally received from God.
A cross is always difficult to bear in life and with closer examination, perfectly fitted for a particular Christian. Why does God allow such “crosses” in our lives? God uses the very crosses we carry in this life to teach us life lessons. I have cried out to God many times for Him to take away a particular cross in my life, only to realize later in life that He was teaching me something of far more value than I could understand or possibly bear at the time. Perhaps the answers too many of our questions are in the very cross that we carry today.
Edith Stein had been a secularized Jew in Germany during World War II, a woman whom Judaism meant nothing. When she became a Christian, she learned to value her Jewish heritage. As a Jewish Christian, she expressed her heartfelt desire in one sentence: “I wish to be a martyr for the church, for Carmel, my Jewish people, Germany, and all those whom God had given me.” Along with 987 other Jews, she was sent to Auschwitz death camp in 1942. She and three of her sisters were killed, among hundreds of others. Yet, through her cross, Edith had found the voice of her heritage, and her God.
Edith was said to have had two sayings that she often repeated during her difficult times: “God sometimes hides Himself from us in order that we might experience the joy of being found.” and, “Sober thinking is also an exquisite manner of worship.”
The cross you carry today may seem too difficult for you to carry, but by embracing it, you may find the very thing that has eluded you for most of your life. Through the path of the cross, you will come to experience the true image of God intervening in your life, just beyond your human perception. It is well for our souls to heed the words of the One who bore our shame on His cross, when He says to us “Take up your cross and follow me.”
TAKE UP THEIR CROSS DAILY
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
JOY SET BEFORE HIM ENDURED THE CROSS
"Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
- Hebrews 12:2
GOD MAKES CROSSES OF GREAT VARIETY
"God makes crosses of great variety; He makes some of iron and lead, that look as if they must crush; some of straw, that seem so light, and yet are no less difficult to carry; some He makes of precious stones and gold, that dazzle the eye and excite the envy of spectators, but in reality are as well able to crucify as those which are so much dreaded."
- James H. Aughey (1828-1911) Imprisoned American Minister
UNTIL HE REACHED THE CROSS OF CHRIST
"There is in the heart of every man or woman, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, a sense of guilt and condemnation. Bunyan made it a heavy pack on the back of Pilgrim; and he did not lose it until he reached the Cross of Christ. When we realize how guilty sin is, and how condemned is the sinner, we begin to feel the weight of that load."
- A.C. Dixon (1854–1925) Baptist Pastor, Bible Expositor
THE OLD CROSS SLEW MEN
"If I see aright, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men, the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it."
- A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) American Pastor and Teacher
THE WHOLE CROSS IS MORE EASILY CARRIED
"The well-defined spiritual life is not only the highest life, but it is also the most easily lived. The whole cross is more easily carried than the half. It is the man who tries to make the best of both worlds who makes nothing of either. And he who seeks to serve two masters misses the benediction of both. But he who has taken his stand, who has drawn a boundary-line sharp and deep about his religious life, who has marked off all beyond as forever forbidden ground to him, finds the yoke easy and the burden light. For this forbidden environment comes to be as if it were not. And the balm of death numbing his lower nature releases him for the scarce disturbed communion of a higher life. So even here to die is gain."
- Henry Drummond (1851-1897) Scottish Evangelist, Biologist
THERE IS NO ESCAPING THE CROSS
"There is no escaping the cross. You will feel either pain in your body or tribulation in your spirit. Sometimes you will feel deserted by God. Sometimes your neighbor will trouble you. Quite frankly, you will sometimes be a burden to yourself. As long as God wants you to bear it, there can be no remedy for your suffering because there are some vital lessons you need to learn."
- Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471) Christian Theologian
Photo Credit: .museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/christ-on-the-way-to-calvary
