What does the cross mean?
Luke 14:27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
We have heard this verse quoted and many others like it. But what does it really mean? Many pastors, elders, and great Bible teachers would assert that what this verse means is that each one of us as believers has to take up the burdens as a Christian and bear them with diligence. But is that what Jesus really meant?
In the time of Christ when Jewish people, or any people for that matter, saw a person taking up a cross and carrying it, that meant only ONE thing. That person was going to die. They were going to be crucified because they would not bow down to Rome and the worldly system that it represented. Why has that meaning been lost on us today? When Jesus tells us to bear our own cross, he is really telling us to die to ourselves, to die to sin, and to die to the worldly system. Death is painful, death is lasting, and we don't want to die. But it is what Jesus is telling us. We come to Christ expecting that he will make life happy and comfortable, but he actually says your life will involve pain and sacrifice if you come into the Kingdom, but it's worth it. To know the King is worth the pain, the persecution, and the ridicule.
I am saddened that the same nine or 10 people are going to read this devotional, I am even sadder that we will keep the message of it to ourselves. This isn't a popular message, but a lot of times the truth isn't.
We have heard this verse quoted and many others like it. But what does it really mean? Many pastors, elders, and great Bible teachers would assert that what this verse means is that each one of us as believers has to take up the burdens as a Christian and bear them with diligence. But is that what Jesus really meant?
In the time of Christ when Jewish people, or any people for that matter, saw a person taking up a cross and carrying it, that meant only ONE thing. That person was going to die. They were going to be crucified because they would not bow down to Rome and the worldly system that it represented. Why has that meaning been lost on us today? When Jesus tells us to bear our own cross, he is really telling us to die to ourselves, to die to sin, and to die to the worldly system. Death is painful, death is lasting, and we don't want to die. But it is what Jesus is telling us. We come to Christ expecting that he will make life happy and comfortable, but he actually says your life will involve pain and sacrifice if you come into the Kingdom, but it's worth it. To know the King is worth the pain, the persecution, and the ridicule.
I am saddened that the same nine or 10 people are going to read this devotional, I am even sadder that we will keep the message of it to ourselves. This isn't a popular message, but a lot of times the truth isn't.
posted by Pastor Jerry at
9:13 AM
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