take up your cross

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” ~ Luke 9:23

It’s possibly one of the most contrary and least popular verses in the whole Bible. It's definitely a hard one. 

I mean, deny myself—Really? Take up my cross—Daily? Follow someone other than myself--Seriously?

Doesn’t everything in us just want to push back on those words and that request--excuse me--that command! Of course it does. That’s because we have this tricky thing woven right into our wiring. It’s called human nature. And, gosh, is it a pain. And even more so, it is the source of pain. Our pain.

Especially when the world loves, instead, to tell us, “to follow our hearts.” To “listen to our feelings.” To "do what feels good.” To “put ourselves first.” To “protect ourselves at all cost.” 

Who can possibly argue with the lovely allure of those sound-so-good suggestions? 

They might be easy on the ears, but, dear ones, they are lies of the lips. Dangerous because they really don’t sound all that bad. Like a flashy ring or a first love or a breath-stealing sunset, they come delightful. They come dressed in beauty. Attractive and captivating. Hard to resist and sounding so right, so wise, so wonderful. 

They sound so much like exactly what we want to hear. 

And we turn the phrases over in our minds and hold the words wishfully in our hearts. And temptation flies in our faces and taunts us something fierce.

We want these words. We want what they have to offer. Because, the truth is, we want to do what we want. 

We want to seat ourselves on the throne of our own life. Put ourselves high up on the self-made pedestal of our human desire. The world paints that picture as enlightenment and freedom. But, in actuality, it is a dark path of  bondage and emptiness. And there’s not one person walking this planet who hasn’t encountered that struggle and felt the grip of those lies all over his life.

All the way back to the beginning of time in the first garden to grow on this freshly created earth, the evil one sat ready and waiting to whisper his wanton words into the wide open ear of Eve. He played perfectly on this very thing which he knew would be her (and, ultimately our) absolute undoing. 

Asking her ...

 “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree’? Are you sure you heard it correctly? Are you sure it was translated perfectly?

Are you sure its meaning wasn’t misread? 

Misled? 

Missed all together?

Come on girl, you know you want it---The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And you will be good. In fact, “You will be like God.” You will put yourself up on the throne of your life and “you will know good and evil.”  Think of it! Take a bite of the apple and take control of your destiny. Take! Just a bite. Bite!

The devil urged just an innocent little nibble which he knew would bring the bitter bite of destroying sin for Eve, for us, forever. He knew what he was doing—What he was undoing. 

He knew it all along: This serpent, slippery and slick. This snake, cunning and crafty. Why has our world been so greatly deceived? Because the great deceiver knows exactly what he’s doing. Knows exactly how to get us to take a tiny bite and make us long wildly for so much more.

And the more we bite, the emptier we are. 

He knew back then and still knows today that at the root of our undoing is our unbelieving---our unbelief. So he does everything within his power to create questions in us about God. 

Asking us ...

Did he really say you couldn’t? Is he really all-powerful? Is he really all-loving? All-forgiving? All good? All you need? Are you sure? Does he really love you? Can he love you? 

And with the help of this depraved worldly kingdom he ignites these questions in the kindling of our hurting hearts. And these questions lead to grow the chasm of our unbelief. 

Even when we have all the right answers, our minds and hearts are still prone to wander, still prone to question whether God could possibly love us with our long list of lost ways.  

And so people run. Because it, sometimes, becomes easier to widen the chasm then it is to wrestle with all of our unwieldy what-ifs and our wonderings. Easier to increase the gap, than to investigate this God. If I can get myself far enough away from Truth, then maybe I can cover myself deep enough in the lies of ambiguity.

And we believe that lie because it’s easy. At least, easier. Until the cracks come. Because come they will. These cracks which will at some point begin to feel more like chaos than the promised calm of the crafty one. These cracks which will begin to seem more like questions than the peace and quiet of his wily words.

This, dear ones, is the spiritual battle which wages war in all of us, whether we recognize it or not.  And we find ourselves back at that uncomfortable verse in Luke 9. “Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Daily. Follow.”  Faced with a decision: To Surrender, sacrifice and submit. Or ...  to add another layer of the world’s lovely lies and life-stealing darkness. 

Deny. Take up. Follow.  None of it easy, but all of it good. None of what the world is selling, but all of it true and life-giving. 

That cross is problematic for us though, isn't it? Rough and heavy. Burdensome and bulky. But when we decided to follow Jesus we received the promise of not only eternal life, but also of a crucified life. At least here on earth. A life that means taking up the cross. Dying to self. Daily. Hourly. Always. Not perfectly, because, oh friend, that is far from possible, but daily committing ourselves and renewing ourselves in His Word and His Will for our life.

I want to impress upon you that I don’t think this is easy. For our human hearts which tend to desire the path of least resistance, this feels unnatural and even sometimes downright impossible. Why can’t we just float along leading comfy, compartmentalized lives doing a little bit of what we want and little bit of what He says and call it a day.

It’s hard. For all of us. For you, if you’re honest. For me, when I'm honest. So hard. 

But hard doesn’t mean wrong. Just as easy doesn’t mean right. 

Take up your cross. 

“In this world you will have trouble.” Not might have. Not possibly have. You WILL have trouble. But even in that trouble, Jesus promises good news: “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Take up your cross.

I know. It feels kind of opposite of what the world urges. But He tells us clearly that that’s how it will appear to this world. Like foolishness. Like folly. Like freakish behavior. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

Take up your cross. 

I know. It is heavy. Somedays, too heavy. But he isn't asking us to carry it alone. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will rind rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Take up your cross.

I know. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel like what our hearts are telling us to do. But His word is clear--even our own hearts are not to be trusted. That seemingly sweet advice “to follow your heart,” man, it sounds so good. So spot on. But, guess what God's word says? “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 The evil deceiver strategically uses the deceit of our hearts, because he is a swindler, a con man, and a thief. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it ABUNDANTLY.” John 10:10

The devil uses the heart deceitfully leading to death. 

But, God redeems the heart eternally leading to life.

Abundant. Eternal. Crucified. Wonderful Life.

Take up your cross. 

Deny yourself. 

Daily. 

Follow.  

Him.

And live.