February 2010 will mark five years of following Christ in my life. It was the day that I thought that I took “up” my cross and followed Jesus. I have always interpreted “taking up my cross” as the burdens, addictions, and questionable behaviors, pretty much anything that was deemed as sin. Needless to say… what Jesus meant by taking up my cross; was far from what I interpreted.In our culture the cross has become a cherish symbol of forgiveness, love, atonement and grace; also it has become a nice little silver charm worn on necklaces or designs in tattoos; however, in biblical times that cross was a instrument of execution. The cross represented one of the most violent and horrible ways to be executed. Romans would force convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of crucifixion. When Jesus uttered those words to the disciples you can imagine what they thought, because bearing a cross meant carrying their own device for execution while facing ridicule along the way to death.
When Jesus said “take up your cross” He was asking us if we are willing to die in order to follow Him. Not actually die a physical death but something harder then that… dying to self or absolute surrender. What is amazing about this passage is that Jesus knows us all to well because He says “if” anyone would come. He doesn’t take it for granted that we are just going to choice Him over our self’s. He simply says if you are willing to… this is where I struggle and many other Christians do as well. Denying ourselves means to deny our selfish desires such as selfish ambitions to rise above other people, selfish behaviors to get what we want when we want it, selfish attitudes of caring only for our own interests and selfish desires to put our needs first above anyone else’s. How do we deny our selfish interest? By denying to read book or magizines that stimulate those thoughts, denying to daydream about having more things or controlling people, denying movies or television shows that feed those impulses, denying music that makes selfishness seem normal, denying people who drag you down, denying to talk about people or things or yourself in ways that put people down and denying to gossip, criticize, lie, steal , act selfishly in any way, shape or form. Denying yourself can seem like an overhaul of ourselves and in all honesty this was a shock to my system because this pretty much describes my life before Christ. For most of us, we don’t even realize that these actions have become a daily part of our live. I didn’t until I took note of everything I did for one day; from when I woke up to when I went to bed. Everything I participated in, how I reacted to situations throughout the day, what I watched on TV, what I read… everything. What I found (before lunch) was that I was a deeply selfish person devouring everything that filled my selfish desires.
This all sounds a bit drastic and it is! It is tuff not watching certain TV sitcoms that our popular because I know that they will entertain some selfish desire like lust or not seeing a movie that “everyone” is talking about because of the language and lifestyle that it promotes. Really “taking up your cross” means that we either say Yes to God or No. I never realized how much I was actually not allowing God to work in my life. Before I accepted Christ in February of 2005, I was just plain tried of existing. I was tried of living a life that was full of so many empty promises and I was tried of fulfilling my selfish desire and still feeling a sense of emptiness in my life. I said Yes to God on that day; however, I was reminded this past weekend of how much I still say No to God. Carl Gulley at Antioch Church in Waco spoke of saying Yes to God. He said one simple phrase that remind me that I was still saying No to God’s promises, Carl said “Do you love Jesus more then you did yesterday?” My answer sadly was No because I had gotten caught up in what is wrong and right; I had forgotten about the new commandant to love one another (John 13:34).
Before we start trying to justify our actions with meaningless excuses… ask yourself the question that Carl Gulley posed, do you love Jesus more today then yesterday? If not, then you are still saying No to what Jesus has to offer you…
Take up your cross… it will be hard and require work but it will be an adventure!
References:
Nasser,D. (2000). A Call to Die. In D. Nasser. Redemptive Art Publishing
Bible References, Holman Christian Standard Bible
Image Source: http://www.bibletemple.org/
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