Being raised in church, I have heard many people talk about bearing their cross when times are tough or when life seems too much to endure. For some reason however, this has always irritated me. I know that the Bible is God’s inspired and Living Word, and that the Word never contradicts itself, but I was having a difficult time reconciling the idea of abundant life (John 10:10) and bearing your cross (Luke 9:23). I felt as if there was something that God wanted me to understand about this. I decided to dig a little deeper into this subject and find out what God was trying to show me. What He illuminated for me was extremely eye-opening based on my former understanding.
There are four instances in the gospel accounts where Jesus mentions bearing our cross. Three of them are the same story told by different accounts (Matt 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23). The wording is almost identical in these passages. Matthew 16:24 reads “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’.” In reading the surrounding passages in all three of these accounts, there is never one mention of illness, poverty, or bondage. The fourth mention of cross bearing occurs in Luke 14:26-27 and it really gets to the bottom of the issue. This passage reads “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple”. Again, there is no mention of heavy burdens and dark times of defeat. The common thread in all of these scriptures (particularly illuminated in Luke 14) is the concept of self-denial and putting God first.
When praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus very clearly stated that it was not His will to go to the cross, but He was willing to submit to God’s will. What Jesus, the man, wanted was crucified before His body ever was. God wants first place in all of our lives. Family, friends, careers and desires must all fall into place under our top priority: Him. When Jesus bore His literal cross, He was our greatest example of humility and perfected focus on God’s will. In bearing our cross daily, we need to be focused on God and humble toward what He wants in our life.
As I was finishing up my eye-opening study of cross bearing, the Lord dropped one final thing into my spirit. He said that there is a big difference between bearing your cross and crawling up onto it. It is time for us as a generation of God-fearing people to stop accepting the enemy’s onslaughts with false humility and a defeatist attitude, claiming that it is just our “cross to bear”. Disease and sickness isn’t a cross to bear. Bondage to addictions or lifestyles isn’t a cross to bear. Poverty or lack isn’t a cross to bear. We weren’t promised a perfect life, but we were promised enough grace and favor to rise above any life circumstance. A trouble free life is not attainable, but victory over every trial IS. Jeremiah 29:11 proclaims “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”. God’s plan for us is good and one of peace and hope. As long as we put Him first, we can step into the abundant life that He desires for us.
This is good!