One Must Take up His Cross Daily!

November 23 (Luke 9:23)
It’s interesting that only Luke includes the word “daily” in this admonition about taking up one’s cross. Matthew 10:38 and Mark 8:34 don’t include it. Mark however gives us some insight not found in Matthew or Luke. He tells us what it means to take up one’s cross with the preliminary comment that one must deny himself. There have been a multitude of bad teachings about this admonition, so it behooves us to make sure we verify the meaning of any given scripture with scripture. I’ve heard many make comments about a particular illness they have contracted as it was just their cross to bear, alluding to these texts. Please understand, illnesses, trials, persecutions, etc. are not our cross to bear. Our cross to bear is to stop being so ego-centric and become more Christo-centric. John the Baptist put it this way, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn. 3:30) It is part of progressive sanctification that we become less self-centered and more Christ centered as we mature in Christ.

I suspect most who proclaim Christ as Lord get up each morning, take a shower, have breakfast, and head for work with little or no thought about God until there is a lull in the days activities, or maybe not even then. I’m relatively confident most don’t think much about God until something unpleasant happens in their day, at which time they might shoot a quick prayer to “the man upstairs” (please forgive the blasphemy) asking for help. I often hear those who claim Jesus as Lord call God “The Man upstairs.” It sometimes gives me an opportunity to confront them gently with a question or two about who they thing God is. I try to get to the point with them that they understand and are a little embarrassed to have called Him the man, and I make sure they realize He most certainly is not up stairs.

Several years ago, I began realizing I was waking each day an hour or two before I had to actually get up and get ready for work. For a couple of decades before that I had begun getting up with an alarm clock a couple of hours early so I could have a significant amount of time studying scripture and praying. When I began waking without an alarm, I decided it was God telling me He wanted me to use the time in prayer. I began lying in bed for at least an hour each day praying for friends, relatives, our national leaders, our local leaders, dozens of people with whom and to whom I was ministering, and anything else God placed on my heart. I did these things because I came to realize several decades ago we do not need more self-esteem as our contemporary psycho-babblers would have us believe. Scripture teaches the exact opposite. Gosh, I wonder how that happened. Oh yeah, it began in the Garden of Eden. One can almost be certain, anything contemporary psychological research has discovered will be the antithesis of biblical mandates. Several verses in I Corinthians 1 and 2 make it abundant God makes the wisdom of the world utter foolishness, and declares the wisdom of God beyond the scope and understanding of any who do not have the Holy Spirit abiding within them.

My final thoughts for today’s devotional go something like this. Firemen teach us when our clothing catches on fire to stop, drop, and roll. I suggest if you want to put out many of the fires in your life before they start each day that you stop, kneel, and pray by your bedside each as you awaken. Kneeling is critical because it reminds us we are in servants in our relationship to our God. It reminds us we are not in charge, He is. It is a position of humility. Of course, we also have to have an attitude of humility. Kneeling alone is not a magical formula for anything. Beginning each day in humility will go a long way to prevent us from becoming arrogant and/or overbearing with those over whom we may have authority. And, it will enable us to allow our God to so fill us with His indwelling Spirit that those around us will be drawn to the King of kings and presidents and Lord of those think they’re lords (you may have to read that sentence several times to get the point). Finally, as I have stated repeatedly, there are actually ten things that must be present if one is to enter the kingdom of God upon departure from this life. Nine occur during this life and the final one is our state upon receiving our new bodies (glorification). I believe, if one thoroughly understands the five I have addressed in the past six devotionals, he realizes all ten are implied in those five. As always, if you have any questions or comments I invite you to make them in the comments section below. I’ll be pleased to respond to any and all such comments. God bless and keep you.