EMBRACING OR BEGRUDGING OUR DAILY CROSS?
 

By: Norm Rasmussen

Then He (Jesus) said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”-- Luke 9:23

Every person, whether Christian or non-Christian, will have a painful "cross” to deal with sooner or later. I’ve yet to talk with a sold-out-for-Jesus Christian who hasn’t had a cross to deal with. Carrying one’s cross is never easy, because it always involves pain to some degree. It can involve a lot of pain at times, in fact. If a Christian is not carrying a heavy cross today … let’s talk with that Christian in the future. Experience teaches that things can change very quickly in Christian’s lives, and we might be riding high this week with joy and blessing in the Holy Spirit, but next week we can find ourselves in the depths of seeming despair and hopelessness.

Is this fatalism? No. Are we to be paranoid about it or fearful? No. Rather, Jesus tells us in Luke 9:23 to take up, or pick up, whatever our daily cross is – and tackle it head on -- rather than be defeated by it, or held back by it, as we strive to let God have His way in us.

It is human nature to want to turn things around the opposite of what Jesus tells us we must do. What most of us would prefer to do, if we had power over the situation, is to deny our cross, and indulge our heart’s desires, whatever they may be.

Losing a loved one in an untimely death becomes an immediate cross to bear until grieving and loss leaves and healing comes. Being diagnosed with terminal cancer with six months to live becomes an immediate cross to bear. Having one’s home destroyed by a tornado or fire, or being fired from our job with little hope of finding another one becomes an immediate cross to bear. Defining crosses can become almost endless.

An inmate locked up in prison wants out. It’s only natural. Every inmate desiring to be out of prison has a daily cross to bear. Every guard in that prison that would like to work at another career, or would like to be retired, has a cross to carry each day as well. Whether Christian or non-Christian; both inmate and guard have a cross to bear. What God wants his disciples to realize is that if they will embrace their cross, rather than begrudge it, grace will be given by God to endure that cross easier than what it might be otherwise.

In one sense - picking up one's cross daily is God’s way of saying to His people that spiritual attacks from the devil is inevitable in this life for followers of Jesus Christ. It also means that attached to that cross we are asked to carry are things that are sometimes not from Satan at all, but from God Himself.

Those things attached to our cross that are from Satan we are to seek God to dislodge. Those things attached to our cross that are from God will not be dislodged no matter how much we would like them dislodged until God chooses to dislodge them. In II Corinthians 12 we are made aware of a demon that clung to the Apostle Paul’s personal cross. No matter what source suffering comes from, God can use it to accomplish His will in us. For those who will embrace the suffering, rather than begrudge it – God will work it for good.  (Read Romans 8:28-29)

God has promised us that we will face tribulation in our lives. Not maybe: not possibly – but of a certainty:  We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22). Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.  (II Timothy 3:12).

Most all of us have worked jobs we’re not happy with. That can be a cross of God to deal with daily. If it is something we begrudge, we may have to work at that job more years than what we care to think about. Or maybe we’re happy with our job, but there happens to be at least one person we would just as soon see quit, get fired, or pass and go to heaven. That person we don’t like being around might also be a cross from God … though it is probably the devil influencing that person to be the way they are.

Does the Holy Spirit ever lead us directly to evil to let evil become our cross to have to deal with -- a cross we are forced to carry whether we like it or not for a season? He did that with Jesus!  He led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil for a period of 40 days, scripture records (See Luke 4:1-2).   Are we somehow so special that we are exempt from the Holy Spirit doing the same to us at times?

It has become soberly apparent to people who have been Christians for awhile that God could easily have done completely away with Satan and his demon helpers after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Yet He didn’t. God chose to let him have influence in the affairs of mankind yet for some time. There are no doubt, reasons for God doing so that will only make sense to us when we get to heaven. Yet we can gleam precious insight into how God uses suffering and hardship from Satan and life’s harsh circumstances to help shape us into the eternal vessels of glory that we are to become.

Every person living has a spirit. God says that when our outer shell is peeled away, and only the soul and spirit remains, we have something waiting for us beyond our wildest comprehension. Scripture assures us in II Corinthians 5:1 "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."  But keep one sobering fact ever before us: only those who are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ are given this promise and assurance. It is not given to those who have not placed their trust in Jesus Christ to forgive them of their sins, and seek to be led regularly by the Holy Spirit (See Romans 8:14).

We move back a few scriptures and get a sense of something so incomprehensible in our present suffering state that it is almost too wonderful to even think upon: "Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen (suffering around us and in us), but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."  (II Corinthians 4:16-18)

The loss of your loved one; your life seemingly wasting away behind prison walls, no spouse to love or be loved by, no children to warm your day, no mother or father to be loved by, no letter from anyone for the soldier in a far away country with body dismembered in fighting for his/her country, no job to pay bills, no relief from emotional torment, no food to eat. Shocking as it seems - God calls these things “light afflictions?!”

Allow me to interject something at this juncture, before continuing. I don’t believe in any sense of the word that God delights in people suffering period. It’s not His true nature. If God found such pleasure in people suffering, it would also be available in heaven. Yet God promises in His Word that there will be no suffering in heaven. Then why does He tolerate it down here? I believe the answer is easiest to come up with by just using human logic, dangerous as that is. Salvation is free; the eternal rewards of joy that await us through eternity are being earned during our lifetime on earth - and for most, they are very costly. Without a price to pay, there is very little appreciation for winning the prize. Satan and a third of the angels in heaven did not appreciate what they had, and were kicked out of God's glory forever. Would it make sense to agree that God is never going to allow such a thing to happen ever again?

How then, can we find more peace in the sufferings that we can do little if anything about? I believe immeasurable peace lies just a few scriptures later in II Corinthians 5:9-10: "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

Could it be that we will be rewarded when we purpose to embrace, rather than begrudge, scriptures like:

"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake." (II Corinthians 12:10).

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials."  (James 1:2)

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." (I Peter 4:12-13)

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (I Peter 1:6-7)

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."  (Romans 8:18)

Suffering and hardship comes to everyone. Some more than others. To those who are in Christ, their sufferings and hardships will be used by God to shape their glorified bodies into stunning vessels of glory and majesty to contain all the joy that will be given them. To those who reject Jesus Christ, their sufferings and hardship in this life will have seemed like heaven compared to the suffering they will experience throughout eternity in their tortured bodies in hell.

So dear soldier of the living God, take heart when scripture assures you: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (I Corinthians 15:58)  We tend to think that our “calling” or “ministry” is what God is speaking about here in this passage. I believe it includes more than just that. I believe God is also telling us to be steadfast in our hope that no matter how much we are suffering, we will not lose our reward if we thank God for the good that He can bring out of it rather than begrudge Him for it.

As much as possible in our suffering, let us remain immovable in our trust that: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."  (Romans 8:28)   If you are born again, or desire to become born again and follow through with your desire by placing your trust in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins, you are in the category of “the called” as mention in Romans 8:28.

As I write this, I am faced with a fear I’ve never been faced with before. This fear has become my cross. Though I know this type of fear is not of God, I am having a difficult time shaking it loose from me. As I’ve sought God for deliverance from it, God has instructed me to face this fear head on by embracing it rather than trying not to think about it. Through this attack of fear, God is trying to teach the eternal value of embracing my cross daily, rather than loathing it. God doesn’t delight in the pain it is causing me, but enough grace is available from Him to help me hold up under the weight of it. I don’t have to hold up this cross all by myself: Jesus is ever present to help me carry my cross.

As I look back over much of my Christian life, I realize I have not done so well in picking up my cross and seeking God for understanding of the good that could be found while carrying it. I’ve been one who has constantly sought after deliverance from my cross, more than thanking God for His wisdom in giving me each cross to carry daily.

A precious brother in the Lord, Tim Peerbolt, recently brought to my attention (around January 2003) a scripture that I had been doing a lot of thinking about since he mentioned it at he and his wife’s (Marilou) prayer/home group. A couple of months later, on March 28, 2003 to be exact, I experienced what I consider to be my very own “shock and awe” encounter, and in asking God for a Psalm to calm my soul, I couldn’t find even one! Yet having faith of the most desperate kind for God to comfort me from His Word, He clearly spoke to me to turn to Ephesians 5:20 and DO what the scripture says to do. Here’s the scripture passage:  ...giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For “all” things???? “Uhhhh … Lord you don’t mean you want me to thank you for this unexpected “shock and awe” that was just launched upon my wife and I, do you?”

“Out loud, even … my son,” came His reply.

So I did. It wasn’t as hard to do as it might have been a few years back. Out of being obedient to Him by thanking Him for allowing me to be “shock and awed” - He has begun to put it on my heart to seek Him for greater revelation of the good that can come out of embracing my daily cross rather than loathing and begrudging it. I guess that until one gives thanks for one’s cross, one’s cross might be heavier than what it actually has to be.

I believe the greatest reason God wants us to give thanks for all things is to keep us humble. A close second reason is to be kept from being overwhelmed when Satan attacks us, (which is where most of our tribulations come from anyway). In being overwhelmed, we become more vulnerable to bitterness toward God, holding low-level anger and unforgiveness towards Him for allowing such a “bad” thing(s) to happen, when it was in His power to keep it from happening in the first place. Satan is ever desiring to “shock and awe” us in one way or another in hopes we’ll pull our trust and affection away from the Lord Jesus to where we essentially quit trusting Him for anything anymore. Once that happens we tend to quit praying, and once we quit praying, we lose intimacy with Him, which then leads to a dangerous “backslidden state” with Him.

The heavy cross that Jesus carried to Golgotha was a painful cross to carry. Yet in his pain as He carried it - a little voice kept telling Him: “The painful cross you are now carrying will be the very weapon that will crush Satan’s control over the human race. Carry it like the weapon it is, My Son, because it will bring joy unspeakable to You and Your followers that will be experienced throughout eternity.”

Could the cross you are carrying today be your weapon in disguise? We encourage you to seek God for wisdom and insight. There is no cross we are forced to carry that God cannot turn into a miracle of joy ... in light of eternity.

Dear Reader - are you at peace with God?  If not, you can be.  Do you know what awaits you when you die?  You can have the assurance from the Holy Spirit that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain.  Either Jesus Christ died for yours sins, or He didn't (He did!).  Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to cover your sins?  We plead with you ... please don't make such a tragic mistake.

To be at peace with God; to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity; to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help understand the importance of being reconciled to God.  What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one.  Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life.