The Cross

August 29, 2016

Devotions:

        “Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” ‭Matthew‬ ‭16:24‬ ‭NASB‬‬

        What does it take to be Jesus' disciple?  What is the cross that Jesus said that we must bear?  Some put it as sickness or disease or anything that afflicts us which we cannot seem to get rid of.  Some have portraid it as a heavy burden that as we bear it, it prepares us for heaven.  In reality, the cross is the cross of Jesus that we pick up.  That is we could do nothing to save ourselves, and it was all done in the sacrifice of Jesus.  We can add nothing to it and we can take nothing away from it.  Jesus said hat we had to deny ourselves, our self effort at saving ourselves.  Our flesh wants to take some responsibility for salvation, we pray enough, we read our Bible enough, we fast enough to be spiritual and accepted by God.  There is nothing wrong with these spiritual disciplines but when they become works of the flesh to make us acceptable to God then they are from the wrong motive and unacceptable to God.  When the cross becomes a burden that we have to bear to achieve our salvation then it is a lie.

        To follow Christ is to be born again,  He was the first one born again from the dead and He opened the door for everyone to follow Him and be born again.  All our work is response to God's finished work in Christ Jesus.  To take up our cross and follow Him is to receive His finished work and follow Him in death, burial, and resurrection, to be born again.  The cross is a place of freedom not bondage and works.  We look through the cross and to the throne so that we walk in daily communion and fellowship with the Father and Jesus.