ICS Daily Devotions
Take Up Your Cross, and Follow Christ
Mark 8:34c And take up his cross, and follow Me.
Many of us come from different religious background before we accepted Christ into our lives. There is a huge difference between religion and a relationship with God.
Religion tells us that we will never be good enough for God, therefore there is punishment in the form of retribution and in order to gain acceptance we have to pay penance. The problem with such an idea is that there is nobody who will be able to fully gain the acceptance and have a clear conscience through religious acts! Some have gone to the extent of crucifying themselves as a form of carrying the cross on Good Friday!
Some people think that the burdens of life are a cross they must bear. Some people say that a lost, a pain, an abusive spouse, a wayward child or a crazy boss is their cross. Some people think that an illness or a physical handicap is their cross. The trials and hardships we face in this life are not our cross! Jesus bore the pain of the cross, went through the suffering and became the ultimate sacrifice so as to offer His blood in the heavenly tabernacle and He sat down after the sacrifice. It is complete and done.
We have a different cross to bear! When Jesus told His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him, He is actually calling them to die to themselves. He is calling us to commit to a lifestyle of living death; it is living the lifestyle of faith and godliness.
Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Taking up the cross and following Christ means full submission to the Lord. We will willingly submit and pursue what God has for us when we fully understand and appreciate the atonement and the redemption of Christ for us. He is calling us to willingly bear the shame, the reproach, the humiliation, the suffering, the hatred, the alienation and even the death that may come to those who are associated with Him, especially when we are holding on to values and principles thus choosing to live a godly life. This is the only suffering of a Christian which is suffering for righteousness sake!
The world is using all kinds of unscrupulous ways to make money and engage in all kinds of lust of the flesh but when we say no to these practices, this is a form of carrying the cross!
We take up our cross when we choose the narrow way over the way of the world, regardless of the cost. We take up our cross when we choose the narrow way over the way of the world and live out biblical ethics in our personal lives and in our business relationships, regardless of the cost. We take up our cross when we are willing to suffer any attack for Jesus’ sake.
Not many people are truly carrying their cross today. Many are quick to compromise when it makes their way just a little easier. Businessmen will lie to keep their customers. Christians will lie to save face. Church folks will compromise with the world to avoid being singled out and humiliated for being a believer.
To take up your cross means that you are willing to identify yourself with Jesus Christ, His death and His word, regardless of what it costs you personally or financially! It has to do with your values as a Christian!
That’s not a side of Christianity we hear about very often! It is not popular to talk about sacrifice, death and suffering, but that is what Christianity is all about!
Mark 8:35 (Amp) For whoever wants to save his [higher, spiritual, eternal] life, will lose it [the lower, natural, temporal life which is lived only on earth]; and whoever gives up his life [which is lived only on earth] for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it [his higher, spiritual life in the eternal kingdom of God].
Once we have our focus on the destiny that God has intended for us then we will find it easy to forgo, deny and carry the cross in this present life.
We have to sort out the priorities in our lives by putting our spiritual life as top priority if we want to be able to enjoy the abundant life. The ability to enjoy peace and joy in our lives is possible. He who chooses to lose their life and give up their rights to submit to God’s will is a wise man because it is he who will gain the higher, spiritual life in the eternal kingdom of God.
Sermon Series: Affluenza
