What Jesus Did : Matthew 10:38-39 - Take Up the Cross
by Phil Ware
Take Up the Cross - Matthew 10:38-39
"If a person will not accept the cross (suffering) that will be given to him when he follows me, then that person is not good enough for me. Any person that loves his life {more than he loves me} will lose true life. Any person that gives up his life for me will find true life." (ERV) Full TextKey Thought
Far from being a decorative piece of jewelry, the cross in Jesus' day was something hideous and shameful. Roman citizens weren't crucified. Decent citizens weren't executed on a cross. Only the scum, riffraff, and hideous were humiliated and tortured by crucifixion. In fact, the words crucify and cross were considered to be very crude words not allowed in polite Greek society. The Jews even had Scripture that suggested that anyone who was placed on a cross was cursed by God. So for Jesus to say "Take up your cross" were shocking words to hear. Why a cross? Can't you think of something better? Nope! Nothing can symbolize God's love, man's inhumanity, sin's ugly putrefying power in the world, Satan's hatred, and God's forgiveness quite like a cross, if that cross is where Jesus paid for our sins and absorbed Satan's worst deadly blow. Yet in that cross, God's righteous demands were satisfied and our sins forgiven.
Today's Prayer
Oh gracious and sacrificial Father, may I never boast in my deeds, but always look to the cross as my source of righteousness. Through your cleansing and empowering Spirit, please help me to surrender my life, my heart, my sin, and my dreams to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Today's Verses in Context
I have come to make this happen: 'The people in a person's own family will be his enemies. A son will be against his father. A daughter will be against her mother. A daughter-in-law will be against her mother-in-law.' "Any person that loves his father or mother more than he loves me is not good enough to follow me. Any person who loves his son or daughter more than he loves me is not good enough to follow me. If a person will not accept the cross (suffering) that will be given to him when he follows me, then that person is not good enough for me. Any person that loves his life {more than he loves me} will lose true life. Any person that gives up his life for me will find true life. The person that accepts you also accepts me. And the person that accepts me also accepts the One (God) that sent me. Any person that meets a prophet and accepts him will get the same reward a prophet gets. And any person that accepts a good man because that man is good will get the same reward a good man gets. If any person helps one of these little ones because they are my followers, then that person will truly get his reward. That person will get his reward even if he only gave my follower a cup of cold water."-- Matthew 10:36-42 (ERV)
URL: http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/0511-wjd.html
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