Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Our Cross

“For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live”.     Romans 8:13 GNT



One of the purposes of the cross is to release me from myself in order to be useful to the world.

If I am constantly occupied with my cross, I am of no use to myself or anyone else.

Jesus instructs each one of us to leave all that would compete with Him and follow Him.

We cannot manufacture a “cross”, for that would be the worst type of hypocrisy.   It is either there or not.   Simply denying our self a tiny pleasure, then being proud of it is certainly not the cross Jesus was talking about.

The “cross” is a continual death to self.  We must “die daily” as Paul did. (I Cor. 15:31)   Today the point of crucifixion may be one thing, tomorrow something else.

As long as we are alive and as long as we desire to be first, we will be confronted with choices:  my will or Jesus?     We will never be free here on earth from the pain of being scarred by our cross.

The pain of our cross is Jesus’ pain that He endured for others; only as I suffer the pain of dying to self can I live, as Jesus did, for others.

That is the “glory” life Paul proclaimed: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”     Gal. 6:14  NIV

No comments:

Post a Comment