pick up YOUR cross

[Guest shiloh357]

Yes, the cross at those times meant crucifixion and I will have to look at my overgeneralization more closely - I may be wrong. However in those times wasn't life much more harsher. Adultery was punishable by death. Joseph wanted to put away Mary because he risked losing his reputation.

 

To be crucified was to be put to open shame.  It was the worst possible way to die because your family would not even claim your body or give you a burial.  A crucified Jewish victim was disowned.  For that reason, the Romans took the bodies down and put them on a burn pile near the crucifixion site.

 

Stoning would be preferable to crucifixion in those days.    So when Jesus uses the image of the cross as a poignant picture of the immensity of the cost of following HIm.  It doesn't necessarily mean one will be crucified, but it means that for some, their association with Jesus will cost them as much as if they were a victim of crucifixion in terms of their honor and reputation.

[WillfromTexas]

It means to stand up for the Gospel even at your own personal expense.  Crosses come in all shapes and sizes- some big and some small.

 

One personal example I've used is my best friend since 7th grade.  His wife is Jewish and hates Christians with a bitter passion...  When she found out I was a Christian she forced my friend to cut ties with me.  We were close as brothers and always promised to be friends.  I give up this friendship for the sake of Jesus but I can't say it doesn't hurt.

 

Or maybe you are young and your friends are going off to a drunken party.  They use to have these things called Keggers where somebody got a keg of beer and head to an abandon road.  Use to be a big thing when I was in high school and there were kids there as young as 15.  If I had any sense and were a Christian back then I'd said noway or had any desire to attend one.  Now I know that's a fairly small cross but you'll be shunned by your other peers at school.

 

Jesus goes on to say he hasn't come to bring peace and for his sake.  It will turn family and friends against you for professing Christ.  You might lose your job or even your life depending on where you are in the world.  Think how heavy a cross it must be for a Christian in Syria or other muslim dominant countries. 

 

When Jesus speaks of leaving his peace to us it is referring to the peace we can have as Christians even during trials and tribulations.  Peace inside when everything and everyone around us in chaos.  Many confuse and think it means Christ will bring peace to every situation in the world.  When the angels cried 'Peace on Earth!"  They were referring to peace with God and man- not peace between man and man.  Anyway guess I am getting a bit off the subject here.

 

Luke 12:

⁵¹ Do you suppose that I have come to give peace upon earth? No, I say to you, but rather division;

⁵² For from now on in one house there will be five divided [among themselves], three against two and two against three.

⁵³ They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

[Will_Hoyt]

Pick up your cross and follow HIM. What does this mean to you all?

Listening to what the holy spirit says. Doing it.

 

One day i asked god to make what he wanted me to do simple, loud and clear. One night on bended knee i admitted i would get confused. 

He has done so.

[rebbell]

I believe in order to pick up our cross and follow HIM, we must first know HIM.

We can only know HIM when the Holy Spirit introduces us.

Then the Spirit of Truth opens blinded eyes to who Jesus is and what HE did while HE walked here.

HE has simply asked of us to pick up our cross and follow HIM.

Do you consider yourselves a follower sitting on the bench every Sunday morn? Did you do God service today by showing up and sitting there?

God bless

[GoldenEagle]

I believe in order to pick up our cross and follow HIM, we must first know HIM.

We can only know HIM when the Holy Spirit introduces us.

Then the Spirit of Truth opens blinded eyes to who Jesus is and what HE did while HE walked here.

HE has simply asked of us to pick up our cross and follow HIM.

Do you consider yourselves a follower sitting on the bench every Sunday morn? Did you do God service today by showing up and sitting there?

God bless

Sitting on the bench isn't really what a Christian is supposed to be about. The entire service is about worshiping God.

Like anything showing up is half the battle.

[rebbell]

 

I believe in order to pick up our cross and follow HIM, we must first know HIM.

We can only know HIM when the Holy Spirit introduces us.

Then the Spirit of Truth opens blinded eyes to who Jesus is and what HE did while HE walked here.

HE has simply asked of us to pick up our cross and follow HIM.

Do you consider yourselves a follower sitting on the bench every Sunday morn? Did you do God service today by showing up and sitting there?

God bless

Sitting on the bench isn't really what a Christian is supposed to be about. The entire service is about worshiping God.

Like anything showing up is half the battle.

 

The best worship with God I have ever had has been HIM, the Holy Ghost and myself in the middle of the woods sitting on a Rock.

Every time I walk in the "church" I feel chains of structured bondage. It's mans way of doing things. Don't speak what ye ought to speak, they will toss you down the hill headlong.

Yes, speak what the Holy Ghost is telling you to speak. Pick up your cross and follow HIM.

God Bless

[Reformed Baptist]

Ask that question of a Christian in Eritrea and I think you would get a pretty accurate answer. To take up your cross and follow. is to tread the same path as He trod, it is to lay down your life for him in whatever way he demands of you. It might be through a long life of sacrificial service, or it might be through a relatively quick martyrdom!  A cross isn't just about shame, it is about suffering and death. 

[Willa]

I have to agree that carrying the cross starts with nevertheless not my will be done but thine. We bend to do God's will though it be painful and humiliating, and possible leading to death. We become dispised and forsaken of man, often losing our relationships with family members and close friends. It hurts, yet we know that we cannot live without Jesus in our lives. So He is worth it all.

We also lost relationships on both sides of our families, were ridiculed and threatened by family members. My best friends cut ties. My hubby was disinherited and barely tollerated. Only one of his family keeps in touch. 4 of mine send Christmas cards.

I was reported at work at they placed a camera on me to record any inpropriety, including proselatizing. So I didn't bring up my faith till they asked and they always did. Then I urged them to received Christ and go to the church of their choice. Our cross is the cost of true discipleship and walking in the Spirit. Even religious Christians accuse us falsely, which hurts when we considered them our friends. But we remember that Jesus was also accused falsely and was tried illegally.

Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, Who, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb. 12:2 NKJV

[rebbell]

Reformed and Willamina,

Totally agree with what you are both saying.

Amazing how people have avoided this simple post.

Do we not want to get involved with such a question because it convicts our hearts of....(self)? Or, do people (believers) not know what it truly means to "pick up your cross and follow me". Or, do we believe this is the pettier of the matter? when in fact, He is the door, and it starts at the cross.

When the Word says, "to give ourselves wholly to Him, to mediate wholly on the Word. "Wholly" something about that word in the WORD that really stands out to me. I believe it means just what it says. We can have as much as we want but what am I willing to give. My life??? Yes, I have made an oath with GOD, to serve HIM. To die for HIM. My life is NOT my own.

God Bless

[ryanmercer]

Be a follower not a fan.