Joel M Bradshaw

38And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.–Matthew 10

A common usage of this phrase is someone saying, “I guess this is just my cross to bear.” But this most likely takes the verse out of context. Because in Jesus’ day, what was the context? The Roman crucifixion of a condemned criminal! Bearing your cross meant carrying your own means of death that final mile just to die on it. This wasn’t speaking of an inconvenience that you are forced to put up with.

Think big picture here. Think perspective. There are plenty out there who will tell you that your greatest passion should be in pursuing yourself, finding yourself, and loving yourself. Those approaches are biblically misguided. The Christian is to be intentional about Jesus pursuit and self-denial. The Christian is to die to themself daily, not pursue themself.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Paul built on Jesus’ idea here. Jesus was literally crucified. I am to be daily metaphorically or spiritually crucified. If you pursue your day as if you matter more than Jesus, you are communicating that you are not worthy of Jesus. That was a hard sentence to type.

What about you needs to daily stop? What needs to daily start? Are you living this life to love yourself most? Or are you daily carrying that cross intentionally putting to death your selfishness to pursue Jesus? Therefore losing your life to find it. This is about as counter-cultural as it gets. We all have much work to do here, and I am no exception. This is the great intentional battle of my every day.–JMB