“Take up the cross, and follow Me” (Mark 10:21)

Every saint has a cross to carry which God has ordained. Unbelief, or lack of faith is the ultimate cross-builder, but when saints look ‘unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), they stop trying to please God in their own strength, “not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works” (Hebrews 6:1). 

 Your Old Man, when you feel guilty for sin, will try to get you to erect new crosses to assuage your guilt, but new crosses will only make you “burn out”, rendered useless for the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, Christians erect new crosses when they forget they were forgiven of sin (2 Peter 1:9), but “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). 

 The cross God has ordained for you is not optional. Don’t try to avoid it. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). Take up your cross, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will soon love it, like Moses, “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:25-26).