Take Up Your Cross

We don't have to look very far to see the effects of sin in the world we live.  All we have to do is read the news or simply look around us to see the sickness and death which have resulted from man's sin.  We live in a fallen world where moth and rust and disease lurk at every corner and we live in fallen bodies made weak by the effects of sin; yet this is precisely the condition from which the Lord calls us to serve Him! 

In spite of our weaknesses, as Christians, we are called to serve the Lord and to serve others.  Our Lord wants us to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (Romans 12:1).  In other words, it is true worship when we sacrificially serve the Lord and others with our bodies.

Jesus told the disciples to take up their cross and follow Him (Matt 16:24).  He was literally calling them to die to themselves to follow and find salvation in the one true God!  His call today is just the same and our physical condition or situation does not change that call.  We are to serve the Lord with all our heart and with all of our soul!  There is no qualifier to this command.  

I sometimes act as though I only need to take up my cross  and serve my Lord when it is convenient for me.  When there is something wrong with me whether it be sickness or simply being tired, I make many excuses.  When I am feeling strong, I have been known to say to the Lord, "I will go forth and serve You!"  When I am at my fireside reading my Bible, my heart is strong and is ready to serve; but when the rubber meets the road and bad things are happening, I tend to say, "Oh Lord, why me?"  

There is a song originally written by Henry Francis Lyte called, "Jesus, I my Cross have Taken".  The words are very encouraging especially when we understand that we are called to take up our cross and follow Him through sickness and through persecution and through all sorts of tumult and that through it all He will never forsake us!

 Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my All shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I've sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.

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. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25) 

Brandon