VERSE FOR TODAY: Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24, New International Version).
HYMN FOR TODAY: "Take Up Thy Cross and Follow Me"
A Greek philosopher wrote if those who attend the Olympic games, "They are merely content not to participate, but to be spectators of the hurry,. Wonder, and magnificence of the scene."
Jesus refused to allow His followers to be spectators of His suffering. He required that to be His disciple, one must not only look upon, but take upon himself the cross.
Taking up one's cross demands self denial. Christ died for our sins, so we die to our sins.
When we die, we are separated from our associates. Whether they are friends or foes, we see them no more in this world. When we die to sin, we are separated from sin. We take part in it no more forever. Cross bearing means a conscious decision no longer to live first for one's own desires, but for the cause of Christ. Self denial does not mean self obliteration. It does mean that we so set our priorities that we can say, "Not my will, but thine be done.
To bear a cross voluntarily does not mean to have a thirst to suffer. Rather it indicates a willingness to sacrifice whatever is necessary in order to remain true to God and His standards for life. It means one is willing to accept the ways of Christ at all cost.
PRAYER THOUGHTS: Cross bearing. Is a decision, O God. We pray for the strength to resist and overcome and abandon those sins that took Christ to the Cross. In His Holy name, we ,pray. Amen.
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