11/14/2018
When you look at Jesus, do you see Him sitting at the right hand of God radiating light, do you see Him hanging on the cross at Calvary, or do you see Him carrying, and dragging that Cross down the Via Dolorosa? What is the Cross of Jesus Christ to you? If you really don’t know then you had best decide because it is by the Cross that we follow Jesus.
“that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,”
Ephesians 3:16-17 ESV
What happened on the Cross at Golgotha is the climax of the greatest love story ever lived, conceived, or written. It was here that the love of a Father joined with that of His Son to wipe away the sin of the world, and to return the object of His affection (mankind) to Himself. We often look at the Cross and think of the hate filled eyes of those who surrounded it, or the suffering of Christ, but the story of the Cross isn’t in enduring the hate, or the pain, but loving the haters.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24 ESV
Jesus wasn’t calling us to suffer when He told us to take up our cross... sure, there will be suffering involved in it, and the pain will be nearly unbearable at times, but He isn’t calling us to that... He is asking us to join Him in the love that made every loud thud of the hammer against nail a beat in the song of mercy and grace. It is music in the Psalms he sang from the cross... He is leading us in a love story, and a love song, to His betrothed.
“how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
Hebrews 9:14 ESV
Andrew Murray called this the “spirit of the cross” when he wrote of the highest glory of Jesus. Listen to these wonderful words that he shared with us:
“I feel deeply that the Cross is Christ’s highest glory. The Holy Spirit has done nor can do anything greater or more glorious than he did when Christ “through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God”. It was the spirit of the cross that made Christ the object of His Father’s good pleasure, of the worship of the Angels, of the love and confidence of the redeemed.” - Andrew Murray
Which Cross do you think you are picking up? Are you envisioning yourself as suffering, or being raised up in love? What is in your mind’s eye when you hear Jesus say to you...
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Mark 8:34 ESV
Is He calling you to suffer? No, I don’t believe so, He is first and foremost calling you to love, because that was the Father’s will for Him. You are being asked to deny your nature which is to hate those who hate you.
Or, perhaps you see the Cross as a symbol of martyrdom? Maybe you envision your purpose to be a sacrifice in obedience to God. Is denying yourself done for a more prominent seat at the table of our Father? Is this the object of picking up the Cross to you? No, I don’t believe it should be; it is loving those who are waiting to nail you to it.
“And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Luke 9:23 ESV
There is one passage of scripture we should all commit to memory that explains the motivation of God in Jesus. These two verses in John tell us what the Cross truly is, and why it is the instrument of the most profound love that has ever been known.
“"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17 ESV
The cross is more than a tool, or the ladder that a young man places to the window of his love as they elope, it is a greater symbol than the ring that is placed on the finger at a wedding ceremony, it is a love far more heartfelt than even the look in a mother’s eye when she first sees her newborn baby. This is a love that spans time, and all of the universe. This is the love that sparked the inspiration of God at the moment of creation. So what do you hear in the words of Jesus, and what do you see when you look at the cross? What is it that you pick up when you follow Him, and is your love sufficient to pay the price?
“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”
Luke 14:27-28 ESV
So when we hear Jesus tell us to pick up our cross, He is telling us to pick up that love which is worth laying our lives down for. He is telling us to love those who hate us with an intensity that knows no equivalent. He is telling us that it will hurt, and that we will suffer, but that there is no greater love we can have in our lives than that we have for another when sacrificing ourselves. He is telling us that it is easier to love those who love us, but that God’s love far exceeds that easy way. He is telling us to be like Him.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the love that flows from Calvary, and for the love that you revealed to us through your Son Jesus Christ. Help us Holy Father to understand that the timbers which lifted Him, and the nails which pierced Him, are not the instruments of death and suffering, they have been transformed into much more than that... they are the cresting wave of your love for us. They are the cleansing water that has mounted up to wash over us as it purifies and prepares us for the consummation of your eternal love. Teach us Gracious Father that our cross is not rooted in suffering or sacrifice, but in love, just as was the Cross of Jesus. Reveal your grace to us as we drag our own crosses through this life, and give us the faith that is required to look into even hate filled eyes with the love of Christ. Great is your mercy and grace Holy Father, but greater yet is the love you have for us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who sees love through the hardness of man, and loves his hatred and sin into love and righteousness. Praised be your name Father, and blessed are we to pick up our crosses, and follow your Son Jesus Christ.
Rich Forbes