Maybe your even wondering what this little saying means:
You can be a believer without carrying a cross, but you cannot be a disciple!
Jesus' army is all VOLUNTEER! Not all Christians carry crosses. I know we have all seen hypocrites in churches, workplace, etc. A lot of Christians have opted to live their life for them with lots of material gains. And I am sure that many of them will make it to Heaven. But will they really know Christ? If Jesus is the gate then He is our only access to God. (Christ is our protector!)
We will have to carry our own crosses until we learn to die our flesh daily! Remember the flesh and the Holy Spirit cannot co-habitat. One will bow down to the other. The flesh is strong it will not give in easily. Look at this scripture:
Matthew 16:24: Jesus said to the disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny HIMSELF and take up his cross and follow me.
Back in those days Crucifixion was a common Roman method of execution. Criminals had to carry their crosses through the streets to the execution site. So to follow Jesus was a true commitment that could even mean death. In this day and time in the world as we know one day it may mean death to us as well. After looking at scripture and listening to some sermons from different pastors; I found something very interesting. Jesus could not carry his own cross the whole way and neither can we. That finding was amazing to me. It made so much more sense to me. He became to weak physically from being tormented, I can't believe I never noticed this. The bible doesn't tell us how far Jesus carried it but it does tell us that Simon the Cyrene picked it up and carried to the site where the Crucifixion would take place.
This gives me amazing hope that Jesus knows that our crosses are going to weigh us down at some point and we will not be able to continue on our own strength. So you see he already knows that not one single one of us can pick up our cross and carry it on our own. So he asks us to pick up our cross and follow him, he knows we can't do it alone, he knows he is going to help us. He is fully aware of the agony, the helplessness, and the burden the cross can cause. Look at the verse:
John 15:5 apart from me you can do nothing.
It is not by our might, power or strength, but by his power. So when you start to struggle with your own cross remember that the Bible says his strength is made perfect in our weakness.
struggling with my cross,
Robbie
(asking for grace this week, working 3 straight days in ICU....tired.)
