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Pick up your cross
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Tuesday, June, 01, 2010
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by John Fischer
I've received some new insight into what it means to pick up your cross (something I've never understood very well) and follow Jesus. It simply means pick up your cross and get on with your life. Don't stand there and hang on it. That's already been done.
Easy to say... but what is my cross? What is yours? It seems we all have one. What could this mean?
Well one thing we know is: my cross is not the same as Christ's cross. His cross was our sin. My cross isn't my sin, because that would mean my sins have to be paid for twice. No, my cross is all the reasons I think I need to pay for my sin myself, or make someone else pay. It's all my excuses and condemnations. It's my victimization that immobilizes me while those I think have lesser hurts get to move on. It's the "me, me, me" thing. "No one's had it as bad as me." Well, even if that were true, how long do you plan on singing that song? A few more weeks? A few more years? The rest of your life?
It may be that we've had it worse than someone else, but that is impossible to judge and even harder to compare. The point is: I've had mine, and you've had yours, but it's not too much for each of us to bear our own cross, or Jesus would not have told us to pick it up.
This is not to belittle anyone's ill treatment. It's more of a pleading for the mercy to move on. Every one of us has a cross to bear. And if you think yours is any more difficult than anyone else's, you might be surprised to find you'll have an argument on your hands from others around you. No, in this regard the answer is the same for all of us. Pick up your cross and follow Jesus. And if you think you have an unusually difficult cross to bear, don't look at the guy next to you, look at Jesus, and think again.
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