12/01/2018
Are you a professed believer in Jesus Christ but still waiting on the victory? Have you made a conscious commitment to your faith, and yet the sins of the flesh still rule over you? Look to the cross for relief because in it the world has already been crucified to you, and in it lies your power over the sins of the flesh. You have picked up your cross but are yet to be crucified on it. Don’t look up to the cross... look out from it.
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Galatians 6:14 ESV
Have you ever stopped to consider the scriptures that refer to the cross as it relates to you? Have you noticed that they tell you that if you are crucified with Jesus you have already conquered the flesh... not that you will conquer it, but that you HAVE! Yes, once we look down from our own cross we find that our perspective of the world has changed, and so has our relationship with Jesus Christ.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 16:24-25 ESV
So many of us stop listening when Jesus tells us to pick up our cross and follow Him. I guess we would rather see ourselves as a modern day Simon of Cyrene who was enlisted to carry the cross for Christ, but was never nailed to it Himself. If this is how we view the cross, and the words of Jesus, then we have missed the truth of what Jesus was telling us... we aren’t meant to watch and worship Him... we have been asked to obey and worship with Him. He doesn’t ask us to to view His cross, but to mount our own.
“And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.”
Luke 23:26 ESV
Maybe this all seems too hard for you. Perhaps you feel that the cross on your shoulders is too heavy. Yet this is exactly what we are asked to do, and if we make that commitment, then just like it happened with Jesus, there will be a Simon of Cyrene who will step forward as our strength is failing, and help us. Then again, maybe the weight of the cross doesn’t seem too hard, but you don’t believe you can endure the nails, or being pierced by the spear. Have faith, because just like with Jesus there will be an angel come to strengthen you...
“And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.”
Luke 22:41-43 ESV
There will be those who will mock you in this, and tell you that it is not necessary, or that you are a fool for believing so completely, but hold to the cross and know that you are no longer bound by those who have gathered beneath you, or the power they feel they have over you. Once you have endured the cross you will find yourself a new person, and in this experience of faith you will have won eternity, and the victory over the flesh that you have longed for. At this moment the jeering of the crowd will fall away into the distance, and you will walk side by side with Jesus in a way that once seemed impossible to you.
“And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!" So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself.”
Mark 15:29-31 ESV
So, if we are faithful, and we are obedient to what Jesus is asking of us, we will look down from our cross, and the very character of Christ will have filled us. From here we see the world differently, we will find that we have conquered the sins of the flesh, and that the holiness of God will have changed us so completely that we too will be able to look out at our tormentors and say “ Father forgive them.”
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who endured the suffering, death on the cross, and rise again that I might be redeemed... washed clean of my sins. Thank you Holy Father for His call to me to pick up my cross and not only follow Him, but to join Him on it. I am afraid Father, and tremble before the cross that lies before me. Help me Lord; send a Simon of Cyrene to help me carry the burden of my cross, and an Angel to strengthen me as I suffer, and the nails are placed in my hands and feet. Hear me Merciful Father as I ask you to forgive those who make fun of my faith, and mock you as they belittle my efforts in service to you. Teach me from my cross to love, even as I am pierced. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who takes me wounded, and fresh from my cross and makes me whole. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who gives me victory over the sins of my flesh, and lifts me into His presence. Glory and Praise be yours always Father, and in all things, but especially in the crosses we bear, and the view we are given from them as we are lifted up.
“When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
1 Peter 2:23-25 ESV
Rich Forbes