CROSS TRAINING
by Tim
Knappenberger
|
|
If you're like me,
you've heard other believers refer to their suffering as "bearing
their cross?" Their cross might be a
defiant adolescent, an alcoholic spouse, a dead-end job,
or some bout with a life threatening disease. But are
these crises really crosses? Before I answer, here's a
little test for you: Which of the following would you
say is and isn't a cross?
1.
Contracting cancer
2. Divorce
3. Fired
for witnessing at work
4. House
burns down
5. Sell
your house in order to give ½ to missions
6. Being
cripple
7. Your
child dies
8.
Volunteer at a homeless shelter
9. Go into
full-time Christian ministry earning twice your old wage
If you
cited the third, fifth, and eighth choices (the last one
depends) then you'll probably agree with the rest of this
devotion. If not, read on anyway. It might provided food
for thought.
"take
up his cross…" For a "cross" to
be a "cross", it must be voluntarily chosen,
not something thrust on us against our will. It cannot be
born of accident or fate. I may contract cancer, but I
cannot choose to contract cancer as a way of
bearing my cross for Christ. I can choose to neglect my
health, which may result in contracting cancer, but that
only makes me irresponsible or foolish. I may suffer the
pain of losing my child to death, but still, the actual
losing of my child fails to qualify as my cross because
it never was mine to accept or decline. "I lay
down my life-- only to take it up again. No one takes it
from me, but I lay it down of my own accord."
(John 10:17-18) Had Jesus not had the freedom to walk
away from The Cross, His acceptance of death on it would
have meant very little to you and me.
"he
must deny himself…daily and follow me." Secondly,
crosses are borne when we deliberately die to
pursuing our own ambitions for our lives and instead,
pursue God's. How often? Daily. To anyone who's
made an honest stab at it, this one is a real tuffy. Even
dying to self on a daily basis may not be often enough.
Sometimes I find my need to do it on an hourly (even
minute-by-minute) basis. Not MY will, Oh Lord, but
Thine be done.
"anyone
who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy
of me." Lastly, crosses, as Kraybill says, are expensive
decisions that may make us appear as shameful
failures to the world around us. Take a moment to answer
this question: Has becoming or living as a Christian
COST you anything? If so, what? If not, why? I, as
many of you, grew up in a culture that encouraged me to
become Christian. It would have cost me more NOT to
become a Believer than to claim my allegiance to Christ.
As a result, I am forced to ask myself just how costly my
decision to follow Christ has been. "You still
lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
follow me." (Luke 18:22). No syrupy,
sugar-coated "Jesusims" here. The rich, young
ruler was called on by Christ to make a very
expensive decision. Would I...would YOU have chosen any
differently? I wonder? I worry.
So the
next time a brother or sister in Christ begins lamenting
the weight of their cross, make a real theological pain
of yourself and ask them if it passes the 3-step Cross
Test: Voluntary - Deliberately dying to self - Costly. At
the very least, take the test yourself the next time
you're tempted to label one of your crises a cross.
|