Take Up Thy Cross

One of the most consistent influential elements in human society over the past three plus millennia is the Bible. It has been the longest lasting, most copied/printed, most read and most taught book in history and its influence grows rather than fades in spite of significant detractors.

It is a classic. It is universal. It is foundational to many disciplines: literature, literacy, logic, art, law, hygiene, justice, social order and has been used to encourage many personal virtues the greatest of which is love. Those who refuse it are frustrated by the vast recognition it receives even across many diverse cultures.

• Schools of thought, along with enduring educational traditions, have developed in response to the Bible.
• Governments have shifted philosophically under its influence.
• Wars, inevitable due to the basic nature of humans, have been fought directly as a result of biblical influence.

Yes, unnecessary conflict, abuse and rivalry have been initiated in the name of the Bible but we can hardly blame the Bible for the fallacious thinking of those who spawned it and quoted the Bible for justification. If anything, we learn from this that the Bible forces us to think. The experience of others helps us see that reading the text and understanding it are two vastly different things.

But, one piece of evidence demonstrating the Bibles influence – closer in time and more easily recognized – is the many English language idioms developed from it. You can find a long list of phrases taken from the Bible, almost verbatim, here.

Some examples are:

• Swear on a stack of Bibles (stating one’s integrity)
• Bible basher or thumper (being more emotional than thoughtful)
• Bible belt (areas where the Bible is most influential)
• Act of God (natural disasters)
• Robbing Peter to pay Paul (Ananias and Saphira)
• What goes around comes around (reaping and sowing)
• Bearing one’s cross (the words of Jesus)

The last one is of particular interest to me. This idiom, clearly taken from the words of Christ, “take up thy cross and follow me,” has strayed in its prevalent usage from the original meaning. It’s an important statement. Jesus mentions it more than once and He was quite emphatic:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

He repeated that sentiment from the negative perspective in Luke 14:27…

“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

In one statement we are completely “in” because we carry the cross. In the other we are completely “out” because we don’t. That makes the “Cross” a very significant issue. You can’t be partly right and partly wrong about your cross. You either have it securely in hand or you don’t.

Unfortunately, we often refer to the bad things that happen to us as “crosses” but that wasn’t exactly Jesus’ meaning. Therefore, I have done two things in this post to help define the cross: One, clarified the meaning of the cross and, two, listed several observations about the cross we have chosen to bear.

Clarification and meaning

The word “Cross” is a symbolic reference to the work we do in service to Christ. There is very little difference between the cross we carry and the yoke Jesus calls us to take on (Matt. 11:28-30). They both symbolize productive work: Yoke (harness) representing the physical side and Cross representing the spiritual side.

You are carrying a cross when you commit yourself to some particular task which has the potential to result in spiritual fruit, e.g., teaching sunday school, feeding the poor, planting churches, etc. This list is very limited and traditional.  There are many other non-traditional things you can do in service to Christ.

It is called a cross because you cannot make the commitment without sacrificing personal time, energy and/or resources to the task. Carrying a cross means you are a contributor and not just a spectator.

The Cross and Discipleship are mutually inclusive. Discipleship is nothing more and nothing less than following Jesus but there is no such thing as a cross-less follower of Jesus. Jesus said, “my Father works until now and I am working,” (John 5:17) and what was true for Him is also true for all disciples. Following Jesus has nothing in common with meandering.

The first disciples worked hard just to keep up with Jesus.  It shouldn’t be any different for all other disciples.

The Cross of salvation is very different to the cross of service. Jesus carried the cross of salvation and with it He paid for all our sins. We carry crosses of service and they pay for no sins at all.

Disciples must relate to both crosses but in very different ways. The cross of salvation is visited once in time, never to be visited again. The cross of service is to be deliberately chosen on one day and carried everyday thereafter.

The cross of Jesus makes it possible for everyone to be saved. The cross of service makes it possible for everyone to know about salvation.

With these three foundational truths in mind lets make some general observations:

The cross requires the right attitude

The crosses we carry are confining and sometimes difficult. The people for whom we carry these crosses are not always grateful or even interested. Sometimes they are belligerent and abusive.

But, we carry our crosses not because people deserve it or appreciate it but because they desperately need us to. People who carry crosses faithfully, absorb the abuse and focus on the need.

Also, the crosses we carry are not always very glamorous.  They can be identified with many mundane tasks. We all do different things. What makes any given task a cross is the fact that you are carrying it with God’s purposes and other people in mind.

Even poor or unemployed people can carry crosses. You don’t have to be particularly talented or skilled to carry a cross but carrying one with the right attitude will make you special.

The cross is a replacement plan not an annihilation plan

Jesus is asking us to live in certain ways not die an agonizing death.

• When we focus on a higher purpose we live on a different plane.
• When we live with others in mind, self is denied not destroyed and life takes on a new perspective.

Living by the rule of the cross doesn’t kill us it changes us. We become creative not boring, mobile not stationary, active not indolent. We experiment with different ways to bear fruit and make changes where necessary.

In the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) two out of three servants took their talents and increased them.  That parable is a study all its own. We’ll save it for another post but suffice it to say that the two productive servants probably tried and failed several times before they became fruitful. They may have lost a bit before they started to increase. They received talents from the master but no instructions for the productive use of those talents. On top of being capable they had to be creative.

We too are given talents and only very generalized instructions to guide our service. To be productive we must be imaginative and willing to experiment with our talents until we find the way to increase.

All the signs of life – thinking, planning, working and experimenting – are prevalent when we carry our crosses properly. The cross enlivens us it doesn’t kill us.

The cross is something you choose not something that happens to you

The cross should never be identified with your personal bad luck or misfortune. Tsunamis and earth quakes happen. We don’t cause them and we can’t avoid them and sometimes we must live with them. How we respond to them is the only choice we have.

Natural disasters are not crosses. We grieve with those who experience the tragedies but we never call those tragedies crosses. Everyone has bad luck, the cross laden and the cross free.

Tsunamis come and go but crosses are carried everyday before they come and after they are gone.

A word about mourning. It is proper to mourn the losses caused by tragedies, natural or otherwise, but mourning is a transitional exercise. The end of mourning properly done, according to Jesus, is comfort.

And, by the way, “What if” is a good question to entertain only if you are strategizing for future contingencies. After the fact, it is a waste of conversational energy.

Never define your cross by your losses.

The cross is individual not private

You can’t hide or fake a cross.

You are either doing something for Jesus or you are not. You either make a contribution or you don’t. Involvement, even misguided, is impossible to hide.

No individual cross stands alone. That’s why the Bible compares the church to a human body. It has many parts and they all serve different but meaningful purposes. When one seemingly small part fails to function properly, or fails completely, all the other parts know it.

Self-absorbed people are too distracted to be helpful. Selfish people are to personally consumed to be useful. The cross is the answer to both.

The cross is predominantly about service not sacrifice

Denial is necessary but it isn’t the point. It is possible to deny yourself many personal tastes and still not serve God’s purposes. Every area of denial should have a corresponding cross.

If I miss a favorite TV program it is because the cross I serve requires the same time as the program. You can’t do both at the same time. One must be denied.

Vows of denial – food, recreation, etc. – should correspond to some area of service which can’t be sustained without the sacrifice.

Carrying the cross makes one useful. Denial without a cross makes one misguided at best and at worst self-serving.

The cross is protective not punitive

The Christian has two natures, one is self-centered (old nature) and the second is others-centered (new nature). The two natures never blend. If one is active the other is not. They never change either. The old can never improve and the new can never corrupt.

But, in this life neither can be removed. They are diametrically opposed and in constant conflict. During the course of any day, in the face of any circumstance, we can respond with only one of these two natures, never both, and the choice is never automatic.

It is only through deliberate and intentional effort that the proper responses to certain kinds of difficult circumstances become habit and even then we must maintain a constant vigil.

The cross is one tool to help us focus on the better of the two natures. The time, energy and resources I give to my cross is time I might have used in the wrong way. Using your new nature consistently in right ways (cross carrying) limits the opportunities your old nature has to entertain wrong.

Conclusion

All of that is to say that the cross is an important element of discipleship which is very different to salvation. Salvation involves only one second in time and, once done, is secured forever. Amazing stuff.

Discipleship and the cross, however, are mutually inclusive and will require your attention everyday for life.

A cross is not really a conversation piece, at least for the person who carries it. When you take up your cross daily you won’t have to tell anyone. It will show.

THINK!AboutIt