PICK UP YOUR CROSS

I always wondered what the Lord meant when he told us to take up our crosses and follow him. Truthfully, I felt like if he has already endured the cross, why is it necessary that we do the same; afterall, the gospel of Christ is wrapped up in the message of redemption by the blood he shed on the cross...taking our places. However, while salvation starts at the cross and is sealed by the empty tomb, it doesn't stop there. We have an obligation of Faith, Love, and Obedience.

Thus, the production of our crosses.

Hebrews 12:2 reads, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." After reading this several times before, the Lord finally provided revelation. The pain of the cross of Christ extends beyond the physical pain. His pain not only included lashes of the back and pierced hands and feet BUT it also included shame. It included sorrow, humiliation, mocking, and rejection, as described in Isaiah 53:3 which reads "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

Here we have the King of Kings...the creator, being killed, mocked, shamed, and rejected by his own creations...the same ones he was dying for. Similarly, our crosses bear the weight/pain of shame, humiliation, mocking and rejection. A weight that often finds its substance from those whom we love the most. Jesus warns us of what we can expect in John 15:20, "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also."

So, like Jesus, we too have a cross to bear and while it may exclude lashes of the back and pierced hands and feet, it INCLUDES shame, sorrow, rejection, mockery, and oppression...FOR HIS NAME.

In simple terms, we cannot fit in with the world AND stand out from the world! So, in the face of rejection...take up your cross. In the face of sorrow, take up your cross. In the face of mockery, take up your cross. Amid every trial, every test, every tribulation always remember to...

"Take up your cross and follow me" - Jesus -