Bearing A Cross…

in case you hadn’t noticed, i absolutely love to take the views that people have of scripture and/or jesus and see if it’s really true or not.  the truth is what sets us free, not what sounds good.

the topic that i’ll tackle today is the cross.  jesus told believers to take up their cross daily.  let’s look at the scripture to put it into context.

and he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

jesus had just finished telling his disciples (who didn’t get it) that he would have to be crucified.  then he went on to say that if anyone wanted to come after him they would have to pick up their cross as well.

i believe that we use “carrying our cross” the wrong way.  most of time, i feel that people equate “bearing the cross” to just general bad stuff in life or stuff that’s our fault.  for example, sometimes we’ll equate dealing with sin bearing a cross.  why would jesus tell you to carry sin so that you could be more like him?  especially when he died for your complete and total freedom?  “learn to deal with the sin that i shed my blood to free you from.”  does that make sense?

this is what i honestly believe that jesus was talking about:  if you can learn how to walk towards god’s promises while living in contradictory circumstances, you’ve got the cross.  the perfect example is the cross itself.  jesus was executed as a criminal, and over his head was a sign that said king of the jews.  the father told jesus that he was a king.  so why is he being being and killing by the people that he loves?

better yet, what about john the baptist?  jesus was the one that was supposed to die to set people free from prision, but someone died for him first.  his cousin, at that.  jesus brought countless people back from the dead, and john would seem like a candidate, especially after the way jesus would pump him up.  but nope.  jesus only did what he saw the father doing…he must not have seen god bringing john back.

what promise has god given you?  does life seem like it doesn’t match up?  if so, welcome to the world of faith.  read hebrews 11 and you’ll see that it’s filled with people just like you.