It is impossible to carry whatever cross G_d desires for us if we still have anything in our hands.
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
~ Luke 9:23-26
Beloved, let’s be clear here. Picking up our cross, and following Him is not walking through life, bearing the burdens of our circumstances. It is, in fact, nearly the opposite.
Taking up our cross is actually the daily activity of setting EVERYTHING else in our lives aside. It is abandoning any right to carry anything else that might bring a false sense of power or security or healing other than our relationship with our crucified Lord and Savior. We are even to set aside any sense that we have the right to our own selves or the sense of esteem that might bring.
I’ve heard it (rightly) said, “Christianity is not a self-help program. It is about death-to-self.”
This is indeed a hard truth to be faced by every believer. Are we willing to lose everything to gain an intimate relationship with Christ? Are we willing to follow Jesus if it means:
• Losing some of our closest friends?
• Alienation from our family?
• The loss of our reputation?
• Losing our job?
• Losing our life?
Do we buy into the old catechisms that say the chief end of our existence is simply to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever?
Do we, in fact, trust that the plans He has for us are better than we could ever imagine? That He holds us securely in His hands? That He is too kind to be cruel, and too wise to ever make a mistake?
Let’s listen to an expert for a moment. Aiden Wilson Tozer speaks well on the issue of trusting G_d in the midst of taking up our cross.
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.
Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow.
That our idea of God corresponds as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.
A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.
Thanks A.W. So, what seems to be vital here is that we begin to understand the G_d to whom we are abandoning our lives. It seems that the only answer is to find Him, through faith, by abandonment even here. We have to totally let go of our pre-conceived notions of who we think He is, and let His Word and His Spirit teach us.
However, everyone who has ever totally abandoned themselves has found a most curious thing very quickly afterwards. They find a Jesus who is pouring a purposeful life and identity back into the one doing the abandoning, faster than they can give their lives away. The more they pour out in this manner, the stronger and more clarified they become in their inner being. It makes almost no sense from a worldly perspective.
But even though this abandonment looks weird in the light of the world, something inside all of us simply knows it to be true. We “know in our knower” that giving our lives to Him is a sure bet. It seems that we hesitate because of Him. But we know that is not true. We hesitate because we don’t want to give up the control in our lives. We still think that we might know better than G_d what is good for us. Or worse, we would rather lie in our own refuse, than submit to a Higher Power.
Would that we all would put everything down tonight. Would that we would pick up only one thing – Him alone.
Surely we know this to be the only reasonable choice.
