Reflecting on daily cross carrying - the exception surely? from credit crunched Eastern Europe where there are indeed daily crosses to bear.

I’ve been thinking all day about the implications of this verse for me today in 2010. It is now evening and alhough initially this verse doesn’t sound at all uplifting I’ve reached a place of peace in my thought process. Taking up the cross is sacrificial but also redeeming. When I’m angry…take up my cross, husband trouble…take up my cross, kids misbehaving…take up my cross, boss nit- picking and unappreciative ...take up my cross. In so doing I offer up my situation, my will and pride on the cross and trust God to work all things together for good! Praise Him!

The verses that precede these challenging words are as follows:  And Jesus said ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’ 

This is Christ, ‘who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant’.

This is our God, the Servant King, He calls us now to follow Him, to bring our lives as a daily offering of worship to the Servant King.  So let us learn how to serve…

In her daily training the Olympic runner pushes through the pain barrier to become faster, fitter, stronger.
So perhaps our daily cross is not a burden, but a welcome challenge, marking our personal best, as we train to win – not a gold medal but a golden crown.
Romans 5: 3-5 (RSV) “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”

Just like Linus’ security blanket (do you remember Peanuts?), we cling on to what we know and what keeps us safe. Giving those things up strikes at our core being. What would we be without them, job, money, status, and yet the call is to let go and become free!

Yes, easy to say - really hard to do.

I have so much to learn on this. Jesus gives three instructions here; 1)to deny ourselves - there are times when his will is not naturally mine, and I then have to make a decision; 2)Take up your cross daily - on the cross, Self dies, and this apparently has to be a daily occurrence! Each day I will be presented with alternatives to living in God’s will, most of them seemingly more attractive! 3)Follow me - do I hear Jesus voice above the din of the world - clearly enough to understand - and if so, do I obey?

In order to follow Him we must never lose sight of Him, or we will take a wrong turn and get lost.  And remember that if we stay close to Him He will always be there to help us to carry our cross.

Today I am contuing 24hr fasting which is something I try to do regularly - so I suppose that’s the denying yoiurself bit.  But the stomach rumblings do in a strange way help me to focus on Jesus, and then remember what I am doing & why. And funnily enough, it helps.  Haven’t put my name as I believe I am not supposed to tell others when I am fasting ...

In a world where having “you” time is expressed as a right and not a prvilege & looking out for number one is seen as quite acceptable today’s verse reminds of us what a challenge the christian life can be.  To truly respond to God’s immense love for us - he meets us, like the prodigal son, with arms outstretched - means that we must love God and love our neighbour which itself mean that others must come first.  This may be costly - it involves taking up our cross daily - but if we want to live ‘kingdom lives’ that cost is worth paying and the words “your kingdom come” are fulfilled.