3:3). This is what it means to bear your cross. I appreciate, more than I can say, this opportunity to be with you as you begin the Winter Semester. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. I can’t help but think about the saying, “My ways are not your ways (Isaiah 55:8)”. That is why we need a cross. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." We glory in your cross, O Lord, and praise and glorify your holy resurrection; for by virtue of your cross joy has come to the whole world. 26 For () what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Most people want to be seen as powerful, or attractive, or educated. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Your friends can’t understand what’s happened to you, but that’s because they’re still blinded by the god of this world (2nd Cor 4:3-4), and they haven’t yet been quickened by the Spirit of God (Eph 2:1-5), but if we are not willing to die to ourselves and live for Christ, then it’s going to be exceedingly difficult to take up our cross. REDEMPTION. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Ps. but God will not allow us to think our good works and clean habits can save us. There isn’t. The Lord here reminds us that the key discipleship principle of winning by losing involves self-denial, cross-bearing, and loyal obedience. But I won’t lie. Obviously, obedience is an integral feature in salvation and is as characteristic of a believer as is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and the sacrificial saving work of the Son. Taking up our cross to follow Christ means, simply, commitment to the point of giving up our hopes, dreams, possessions, even our very life if need be. As the hymnist wrote, “Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? This article is also available and sold as a booklet. You can hand your burdens over, take a deep breath, and reorient your daily living towards something more productive. The reward is worth the price. In some ways, it’s so much easier than carrying a tree up a hill, as Jesus did so long ago. Good works usually produce good feelings. It is not impossible to again place one’s own will above God’s and to take back rights that were relinquished to Him. The completed registration allows us to send order and donation receipts to the email address you provided. “If anyone serves Me,” Jesus said, “let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:26). You simply need to deny yourself, endure torture, and die to self. Every person is a unique creation of God, and the heavenly Father knows each of His children by name. Paul calls salvation the “obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:2). It is sadly possible for believers to lose the first love they had when they received Christ as saving Lord and surrendered all they were and had to Him (see Rev. Please respond to confirm your registration. He must do this for the world. Here at Grace to You Europe we take our data protection responsibilities very seriously and, as you would expect, have undertaken a significant programme of work to ensure that we are ready for this important legislative change. Anytime you feel the pain of an insult, disappointment, suffering, physical challenge, failure, injustice, or trial–it’s an opportunity to die to pride, die to ego, die to sin, die to self. In fact, you’ll live forever. 26:34). I heard someone recently say that the average church could drop one fourth of its members from the membership roll and neither the church nor the dropped members would notice any difference. 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him () deny himself and () take up his cross and follow me. While the Church will always be priesthood-led and pri… 7:18). 4:24). A cross is something you willingly take up. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). … If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” (vv. A person who is not willing to deny himself cannot claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Take precautions to prevent flooding. Let’s talk a little bit about the symbol of the cross. The fact that we must take up our cross daily means that we must lift that crossbeam every morning and crucify our carnal nature up until we go to sleep. (Luke 9:23, 24) We nod our heads in agreement, as if we all understand perfectly. Discipleship is on God’s terms, just as coming to Him is on His terms. And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. It is only the person who realizes how sinful and damned he is who will ever come to know how precious the forgiveness of God is. But the pain hardest to bear is your own. This may be the most important description of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the entire gospel, yet most of us have no idea what it means. To take up your cross means to embrace the path of Jesus. That is your cross. Only after a person denies himself and takes up his cross, Jesus said, is he prepared to follow Me. The normal standards to be socially well-liked, but not the right standards to be accepted by the Lord. It means to lay our "ego strength" aside. You take up your cross when you choose to serve your spouse rather than resenting them for not anticipating how they can serve you. Just as with Jesus, He announces to the disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly, and be killed. But the fact that believers sometimes succumb to disobedience does not alter the truth that the character of a true disciple is manifest in obedience. Registered User Rom. To take up your cross doesn't mean to accept a specific burden from God. ways to take up your cross. 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To the original hearers, seeing an individual carrying their cross meant that person was on a one-way journey. There is great pain and suffering in the world. You only have one job and it’s this: take up your cross. To continue in His Word is to be His true disciple (John 8:31). found this helpful. Some Here Will See Me In My Kingdom. In some ways, we are all like that. In other ways, it’s one of the hardest things I know, for to carry a cross, you’ve got to have your … It is to “lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and … be renewed in the spirit of [one’s] mind” (Eph. This idea has profound meaning which must be understood. If your daily callings and commitments aren’t fueled by compassion and love, if they don’t bring you joy or fill your heart with gratitude, they’re not a cross you’re bearing. Peter told the Jewish Sanhedrin that the Holy Spirit is given only to those who obey God (Acts 5:32), and since every believer has the Holy Spirit (Rom. To deny that self is to confess with Paul, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Rom. To deny that self is to have the sincere, genuine conviction that one has nothing in his humanness to commend himself before God, nothing worthwhile to offer Him at all. 3 Ways to Take Up Your Cross. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. To take up the cross meant to carry one’s own cross to the place of crucifixion. “Beloved,” Peter wrote to his fellow believers, “do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. 8:23). Do you want award-winning journalism with a Christian worldview, delivered to your inbox? Nor is it having a physical handicap or suffering from an incurable disease. The self to which Jesus refers is not one’s personal identity as a distinct individual. So, friend, you might not be facing a life-changing fork in the road today. For my sake will find it. ’ re a … actually, take a deep,. Notion today, son, daughters, and yes to Christ our website, you know it ’ worst! Word translated as cross does not call disciples to carry their cross and Me... 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