Take Up Your Cross

I love this picture.  It tells it all about the attitude we need as Christ followers.  To be a follower you cannot go around the issues, you have to go through them.  If you skirt around it, God will only bring it back to you again in another way.

At times I have tried to run from issues in my life, but always find that I will have to face them again, so there is no use running, face it and go through....much like the rugby player in the pic.

Every runner hopes for daylight, and not a big brawly toothless giant to face.  We hope blockers go before us and with a burst of speed, we can break to the outside and cut upfield, unhindered and untouched for an exhilarating 70 yard touchdown.  The reality is more and more, life is like 3 yards and a bunch of toothless giants!  When we have to face life, and we don't find the daylight, we can't run the other way, we have to go through the opposition.

Finishing up from Sunday's sermon:  "Jesus Don't Want No Facebook Friends", Christ basically is telling us a followers that if we want to be recognized by Him, we have to be a TRUE friend.  He challenges us in Matthew 10:34-39 that if we want to be His, have the benefits of Him, and the fellowship with Him, then we have to follow His patterns:   "he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me."
I explained Sunday that taking up our cross is not a religious symbol.  It is more like an electric chair.  The cross represents "putting to death" the aspects of our lives that are contrary to Jesus and His mission and Kingdom.  If we are unwilling, then we will run at the toothless giant and fall down before we are hit.  Do that once, and it is ok.  Do it twice and we will get a kingdom peer pressure grumbling.  Do it a third time and team Jesus will sit us down on the sideline.  Can you imagine fighting on a team and having a runner scared to fight through?  The cross we must carry deals with our prides, attitudes, lusts, envy's, immaturity etc...  We try to act like it is not there (the issue), but still we walk around depressed and frustrated with our lives. This stuff lingers because we won't crucify our flesh.... Jesus says, basically that if we are not followers (unwilling to put ourselves on the cross of denial) then we are not WORTHY of Him.  Not worthy means, we don't get His time. 

I was told this was a "hard word" Sunday.  But it is just the Bible.  One man came to me and said, "Stuart, it is hard to get on the cross!", and I agreed.  The more I think about his statement the more I want to say, "but it ain't gonna change just cause it's hard".  The labor, the struggle, the denial, the loss, the press, it is all worth it.  To the victor goes the spoils.  And we have a lot of spoils to look forward to.  Press in today- take up your cross and let Jesus have ALL of you.  He'll take the pain, you take the gain!

Stu