Pick up your Cross
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
Devotional:
I have always wondered what the man from Cyrene felt when he was forced to carry the cross with Jesus. It must have seemed unbearable to him, no doubt it must have been the biggest and heaviest cross in the world and of all the crosses we could carry. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said: "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." What did Jesus mean by taking up the cross? My beloved friend, Jesus was referring to the burdens of your daily life, it is to walk with the weight of what hurts us, hurts us, bothers us or burdens us. But with a new attitude I'll tell you about it next in Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls: 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." It says that in a way that can only come from a touch of grace from heaven; the burden, the yoke that you carry as you carry it with meekness and humility of heart will enable you to rest in His promises, in His provision, and you will have true rest in it. I will never forget when I was a teenager the example set by my mother, I remember that after paying for a car in full, I still recall it was one of those blue Toyota's that had the headlights that would go up and turn on, and after paying for it in full the next month it was stolen. She came home since she was studying at the time, and she told me: "They stole my car" and I was very upset: "but mommy, what are we going to do now? She told me with that peace that only God can give me "God will provide". And so it was. Taking up the cross implies that there is a present burden to carry, so I do not agree with those who think that when you come to Christ you will live a "precious moments" type of gospel, remember those beautiful figurines? That is not a reality my beloved, Instead he said: "In the world you would have tribulation, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world".
Let’s Pray:
Thank you Lord for the victory despite of the cross, Lord because it teaches me that by denying myself I become more and more like you. And that according to your promises I may rest in your perfect peace and in my relationship with you. Through Christ Jesus my Savior and Lord, Amen.
