Embracing Your Cross

" Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after to Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross & follow Me."

    An elderly mother in the church once told of a dream she had. She saw a road - a pathway. As she kept looking she noticed something curious. Crosses were lying on the ground. One after another, she saw crosses everywhere along this narrow path. 

     These crosses belonged to people who started down the path to self-denial. The same crosses belonged to people started down the road to the knowledge of holy, given by the Holy God Himself. These crosses belonged to people who started down the way, the truth, & the life - the narrow road constricted by pressure, & when the pressure became too great, note  pressure makes diamonds , when the cost became too much, they abandoned their crosses & turned back. 

        Jesus said to him," No one having put his hand to the plow, & looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. We who choose to follow Christ in full surrender must 1rst count up the cost, realizing & recognizing the terms of agreement, bluntly put Jesus's terms. Similar to a cellphone update, you must agree to terms & conditions by clicking the box . A builder doesn't count the cost or estimates  inaccurately, he knows upfront what it cost to complete the construction  project, to ensure completion. The narrow path is tight & constricted & really no room to move or turn around, either you keep pressing toward the prize  of the upward call in Christ Jesus or back your  way out.


   The pressures & trials of life goin happen, regardless if you living for Jesus or living for the world . It's better to seek ye 1st the kingdom of God & His righteousness & all those things will be added. Righteousness = God's way of livings which equals His backing. Better to be about  it than w/o it  that's a bonus track, the Bible says count it all joy when you fall into various trials. In the end your faith is strengthened & character is built. 

         Back to crosses, Paul says we must die daily, self-denial each & everyday what the Bible tells us to die to as well as what God is demanding us individually to die & deny, your personal cross may differ from another. Paul beseeches us by the mercies of God Himself to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God. Which enables us to walk in the perfect will of God. 

     In my closing we can't walk in the highest fulfillment of what God is calling us to unless we embrace the work of the cross, & embrace our own cross. The good news  is if you've left your cross on the side of the narrow road, it's there waiting for you to pick it up & follow Christ again