Thursday, April 6, 2017

Why You Must Pick Up Your Own Cross



…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree… —1 Peter 2:24

{CHAMBERS}  “The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.[…] The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. […] The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.”

{ELGIN} (Matthew 16:24-26) “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”  My cross is not the same as Jesus’ cross.  My cross represents a daily sacrifice of my flesh, my carnal nature.  Not wanting to cling to the old, but embracing the new. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)  My life should shout that reconciliation with God is possible.  But if I am living with both feet planted firmly in the world and in heaven, that won’t happen.  Each day I must resolve to follow Jesus, in everything.  What is it that I can possibly give in return for the eternal salvation of my soul?  (Romans 12:1-2) “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  I can give Him my heart.

No comments: