Out of the Clay

What does it mean to take up the cross daily? It is very sad that the particular Scripture passages in Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, 10:21 and Luke 9:23 are so often misunderstood. Too often preachers use these verses as a threat to force people into works, self-consciousness and Christian performance, when in all reality it is one of the most beautiful experiences for a Christian to take up the cross daily. What cross you may ask? An understanding of pure Grace is necessary to realize that it is His cross and we glory in His cross, because He already went on the cross for us. Consider the following regarding this issue from a Grace-oriented and Christ-centered viewpoint:

Taking up the cross daily means that Christ wants us to focus on Him, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). As we look unto His Finished Work (John 19:30) on the cross of Calvary, which was the manifestation of His Love expressed through Mercy and Grace as He met the conditions of His perfect justice, He is able to work in and through us to manifest His Love with the mind of Christ active in us (1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5) through acts of Mercy and Grace to the folks around us including to ourselves. It’s His cross that we want as a frame of reference.

The Holy Spirit continuously motivates each Christian to look unto Him and with our free volition we say “Yes” and then He can work in and through us. And letting Him work in and through us is what Jesus Christ means in His Word when He speaks about taking up the cross daily. It’s at His cross where we meet Him, our Lord and Savior, and where He finished the work. Now we have peace with God and we can rest and let Him perform His work in us to conform us to His image (Romans 8:29).

And it is very important to understand that to take up His cross is never an actual work performed by a Christian and it’s never a burden or a matter of distress, but instead the cross represents a place of victory and glory. Calvary’s cross is the only cross God will and can accept. There’s no sacrifice we as individuals can offer to God as God doesn’t want our sacrifices (Psalm 40:6, 51:16-17), but instead He wants our heart (Proverbs 23:26; a choice in our free will to let him take over our lives which is not a work by itself, but only a type of mental consent) and that’s not a sacrifice or work. When we give Him our heart it’s the most joyous thing an individual can do to experience the Resurrection Life of Christ in this lifetime. And then the presentation of our bodies as living sacrifices in Romans 12:1 is no longer a work performed by the efforts of an individual, but instead it is the working of the Holy Spirit in us as our minds are renewed (Rom. 12:2).

Some confuse the taking up of the cross with some burden, distress, work, Christian performance and/or duty, discomfort or whatever, when in fact it is one of the greatest things a Christian can experience every day of his/her life as an individual yields to the kind and loving urging/pleading of the Holy Spirit to let Christ reign in them for that day, hour, minute and every single moment. It’s also true when we yield to the Holy Spirit that the things on earth will grow strangely dim as we will no longer yearn to fulfill our human-based (sin nature rooted) desires, but instead we’ll be delighted in His will as we have faith (trust) in Him that His way (plan) is perfect (Psalm 18:30). Yes, once again it’s all by Grace and the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63).