Carrying Your Cross
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate their father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."
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Slaves of Righteousness
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Romans 6:5-7 NIV When one is enslaved, he has been taken against his will to live and serve a new master in constant fear. Initially, the slave’s desire is simply to escape and return to what he used to know. But as a result of the pain and suffering he must endure under the charge of his new master, his desire soon changes to simply getting through the day without injury or recourse.
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True Crimes
For many, the concept of committing a “sin” is a tough thing to grasp. Before I knew Jesus, I’d heard tell of those who professed to be sinners and attempted to convince others of their morally superior perspective.
At that time, the basic concept of sin didn’t mean anything to me. It was used in the context of having broken some secret rules, or at worst, having committed some kind of crime against God. But to me, these always seemed like victimless crimes, since He was God and surely anything I could possibly do wasn’t that big of a deal. Of course, once I was exposed to the Word of God in the book of the prophet Isaiah, this sin idea began to gain traction:
Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you. But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God; your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers.
Isaiah 59:1-2 NET But still, the term sin itself didn’t mean much, and I confess that, even after 20+ years, it still seems rather powerless to me. While many of us may have diminished the term’s true effect without realizing it, recently I discovered that I had.
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Second Skin
“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Mark 2:22 NIV
Did you realize that as reptiles grow, they shed their skin to allow for further growth? This is because, unlike our skin, a reptile’s doesn’t grow as they grow. Instead, snakes, lizards, and other reptiles must shed their skin regularly as their old skin is outgrown. (Technically, humans shed their skin too, at the rate of about 50 million cells a day.)
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NET
As Christians, when we speak of being a new creation, it is important that we see ourselves as “reborn.” When we believe, we are as newborn infants, having restarted from a place of wonder and childlikeness, wholly dependent on the One who gave us rebirth. Having begun again in these new skins, we find ourselves in a constant state of spiritual growth, even as we continue in the constant state of physical decay in which our earthly bodies must endure.
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Pick Up Your Cross
Jesus said that only when something dies can it create new life. I know that in this context he was talking about himself, alluding to his own necessary death on the cross so that New Life might be accessible to all.
“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.”
John 12:24 NLT But I see that we, too, can only create new disciples—bear new fruit—when we truly die to ourselves. Only if we can really let go of what this world has to offer, and embrace only what God offers us, will there be the humility required to impact the hearts of others. Because Jesus continued:
“Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.”
John 12:25-26 NLT Only when we die to ourselves, and humble ourselves so that we can serve others and serve God, are we living a life that’s worth living. For only then, can we bear fruit in others, because only when we die to ourselves can others see the Lord. As long as “we” are alive, God is hidden from their view.
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Don’t Make a Resolution: Be Resolute!
res·o·lute
Determined, unwavering, purposeful, resolved, adamant, single-minded, firm, unswerving, steadfast, staunch, stalwart, unfaltering, unhesitating, persistent, indefatigable, tenacious, strong-willed, unshakable.
“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”
Daniel 1:8 True Resolve
Daniel had resolved (past tense) to keep the ways of God as he had been instructed. Daniel was part of the upper echelon of exiles taken from Jerusalem during its initial siege by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 605 BC. Daniel was only a teenager at this time, but belonged to the families of royalty and priests that best represented the Jewish nation.
On the long road to Babylon, nearly 900 miles, there would have been sufficient conversations among them to establish how they must behave to ensure the success of their people among a foreign nation. They did not travel directly east to Babylon from Jerusalem, because the trip would have been impossible across the desert. Instead, they headed north along the fertile crescent and then south along the Euphrates River. (In Ezra 7:8-9, the return trip took 4 months.)
He was already part of an upbringing that built a character of perseverance. When he was younger, of course, he probably didn’t see the long-term importance of obedience. Did it really matter? But now, on this long trip, it would become clear that the life-and-death importance of obedience would keep themselves from disappearing into the Babylonian lifestyle.
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My Own Worst Enemy
Am I so concerned with my own rights and happiness that I trod on all others? Am I living as though the “ends justify the means?” Who am I that I deserve more than the next? Do I feel like I deserve something better? Perhaps the world owes me something? Maybe God owes me something! Since I got short-changed earlier in life, now that I am in Christ, do I feel He owes me a better life now?
Do I resent God for not providing it to me? And does that mean that I must accomplish it on my own? Because I deserve it, and if nobody else will give it to me, I guess I need to take it myself!
Am I constantly trying to make “my” world better so that I can be happier or more comfortable in my world? And what about everyone who gets to be part of my world? Do they deserve any of these same rights, or is it just me? Was I uniquely wronged or wounded in my past that I should get a free-pass and not be required to live out Jesus’ commands?
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Holding On
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Mark 8:34-35 A number years ago, it was easy. Everything I thought I knew had been wrong, and Jesus showed me—gave me—a new way: His way.
It made so much sense, and life seemed simpler then. The kids were young with minimal activities, and I had just discovered God’s awesome power and love.
So I was “all in” in those days. Whatever God asked through his Word or the Church, I didn’t question, regardless of the challenge. I just acted in faith. Some may call that “passion” or “zeal”. Others may have called it naïveté.
But whatever, it was real and powerful, and I was given the strength and confidence to make big changes in my own life, and receive every blessing that came my way, because my life was no longer my own. I had become God-serving, no longer self-serving as I’d once been.
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Blood, Sweat and Tears
“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
Luke 22:44 While this passage is often misquoted or represented as “his sweat became drops of blood…”, as always, we can allow the Word of God to represent himself perfectly. In every translation, it reads “like” or “as” or “as it were” drops of blood..
But while the idea of Jesus actually sweating blood may be compelling to some, it makes no physical sense (it would indicate an extreme medical condition) and detracts from the understanding of what Jesus was going through.
In reading, and studying, John Eldredge’s The Beautiful Outlaw, one can really see Jesus for who he is, the Son of God alive in a human body. While wholly God, he intentionally bound himself in the confines of a young man’s body, one that came with the whole package of humanity; a package that came with the same ingredients as the rest of us.
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Let it Go
Watch this short scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:
Every day I find myself at odds with . . . myself. As I grow in my discipleship, I look back to see all of the things of my old self that no longer remain. Old habits and attitudes, and ways of thinking. And while my life is no longer a habitual personification of ungodliness—no longer leading a sinful life—it continues to be pockmarked with the remains of what once was.